Wigan Warriors head coach Matt Peet has heaped praise on star player Bevan French after his scintillating performance against Leigh Leopards.
French scored the pick of the six tries as Wigan suffocated and dominated Leigh in a clinical 38-0 victory with the Warriors coasting to the Grand Final to set up a meeting with Hull KR.
Reflecting post-match about his talismanic stand-off, Peet even admitted that he will occasionally ‘burst out laughing’ in training when the Australian tears apart his defence because there simply ‘isn’t a way to defend it’.
Leigh certainly found that as French scored one of the tries of the season, dancing with the ball before poking a kick through that he’d scoop up before diving over to make it 30-0.
It’s a style of ‘backyard footy’ that the former NRL man has brought over and Super League is certainly all the better for it. In fact, it’s probably a key reason why over 20,000 people packed into the Brick Community Stadium to watch Wigan, or so Matt Peet claimed.
Speaking post-match to Sky Sports, Peet explained: “Yeah, he’s phenomenal. It’s why there’s probably a lot of the fans are here today. You know, they want to watch star talent.”
“It’s a privilege” – Wigan Warriors boss on coaching ‘phenomenal’ French
Credit: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
French was not the only ‘star talent’ that those fans got to see with several players putting in impressive performances, namely two-try Sam Walters who was a late call-up after Liam Farrell’s illness, as well as full-back Jai Field, but it is Bevan French who takes the plaudits with the Australian having that X-factor about him.
Tasked with explaining why the Wigan Warriors star is so special, Peet put it down to his ‘instincts’ and explained how the practice of not coaching French is the best way of coaching him.
“I could talk about all the other things I like about what he does, but what makes him special is his instincts, the way he expresses himself, and the biggest job for us as a coaching staff is not getting in his way.”
On that brilliant try, the Wigan Warriors boss stated: “Any Rugby League fan, if you’re not a Leigh fan then you’d be smiling watching that. Sometimes you just have to have gratitude that he is on our team and I get to work with them, it’s a privilege.
“I mean a lot of the time we’re watching our defence in training and you’re picking holes in what you can do better defensively. But sometimes, it’s not often I laugh when we get broken down, but I just will burst out laughing because I know that really there isn’t a way to defend it and we’ll just move on quickly.”
Peet will hope that French brings that same type of brilliance to Old Trafford in less than a week’s time when Wigan take on Hull KR.
