Matt Peet speaks on Bevan French and the lessons Wigan Warriors learnt from St Helens

In the 70th minute of last weekend’s game, Bevan French thought he’d crossed for the winning try in a huge derby against rivals St Helens pulling Wigan level with the Champions at the top of the league.

However, inside the next 10 minutes that all crumbled with St Helens poaching two tries to snatch the win from Wigan.

What a difference a week makes. By the 70th minute yesterday, French was receiving a well earnt rest after scoring seven tries in just over 50 minutes in a record breaking performance against Hull FC toppling Lesley Vainikolo’s record of six tries in one game back in 2005 which ironically also came at the expense of the Black and Whites.

French’s tries helped Wigan to a huge 60-0 win over Hull and Matt Peet understandably singled out French for praise.

Speaking to the Wigan website, Peet said: “I just see it as a privilege to be involved with this group of players, Bevan included, but a lot of them commit to one another on a weekly basis. Even last week when we didn’t get the result, I remained proud of them and I know when we play well we’re a good team, but there’s more to it than that – they’re a good set of fellas.”

“He’s been great for a while for us. Since he joined the Club, he’s done some special things and tonight was a night where he could showcase the talent that he’s got and that’s what we love about him. He’s got so much ability, he does a lot of selfless stuff, his team mates love him, he’s a pleasure to work with on a daily basis and he got everything he deserved tonight.”

It still remains to be seen whether French, like his partner in crime Jai Field, will commit to Wigan long term or if this will be his last season with the Cherry and Whites with there reportedly being a temptation for the versatile back to return to Australia. His seven try tally will have no doubt caused a stir down under after all.

Even if French does leave, Wigan seem to be on the up and progressing week on week and Peet acknowledged this speaking about the lessons they learnt from the defeat to St Helens last week.

He said: “All you can do is respond. You can’t fix last week, you can’t go back in time, you can only worry about the present moment and I thought the lads were pretty flawless tonight.

“There was some things we were looking to build on which were lessons learned last week but we just enjoy our journey together on a daily basis, it’s been a good week. It’s been an upbeat week, we didn’t dwell too much and I’m pleased for the team and the staff that we were able to enjoy tonight.”

It almost seems that the more Wigan meet the bench mark in St Helens, the closer they come to it. This Wigan side is enjoying a learning process and just seem to be getting better week on week.

The question now is: can they go on to unseat the Saints as Super League Champions?

You can read Peet’s full thoughts here.