Wigan Warriors head coach Matt Peet and Man of the Match Bevan French have discussed their sides’ victory over Leeds Rhinos, and admitted they weren’t at their best to end the regular season fixtures.
Two-try hero French was once by far and away the best player on the pitch, with his sheer class and talent on show as it has been so often in his Warriors career. Abbas Miski and Jake Wardle also scored as they ran out 22-6 victors.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, French was asked his thought’s on the team’s performance. He revealed that whilst it wasn’t a flashy win, it is always good to get the two points in those types of conditions.
He said: “It got a bit scrappy, I think the score line doesn’t do it justice really about how tight and physical the game was. Looking back over, I think there’ll be some targets that we didn’t reach, final decision making and things like that, but we’ll take the two points however way we can and it’s a good sign of character, just scrapping out the win, especially against a good, quality side like Leeds.”
Asked if Wigan had reached their potential yet, French believes there is still a few more gears that his side can reach, and will be looking to do so as they aim to lift a third consecutive Super League title.
“I think there’s still a bit to go. Like I said, we just scrapped out a win there and I don’t think we’ll be too happy with it looking forward, just probably the basic fundamentals. We were under the pump for the first 20 minutes, probably took a lot out of us, so we’ve got to fix that moving forward. So it’s definitely a lot of room for improvement I think.”
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Head coach Matt Peet was asked how proud he was of Wigan’s season, and if his side were in the right place come the end of the season. Despite a second place finish, Peet was still left asking for more from his side, after missing out on top spot by just two points.
He said: “I rather would have finished top. I’m not going to lie about that. It would have been lovely to have celebrated that. But I can see improvement in us. I can see us building. They don’t look like they’re coming to the end of the year, so yeah, we’re healthy. But, there’s some good teams and I think there’ll be plenty of twists and turns yet.
French’s first try was a breakaway down the right edge, as Leeds’ makeshift left flank couldn’t deal with the speed of the Warriors attack. Teammate Jai Field was in support, and had he have passed to the full back, Field would have gone joint top of the league’s try scoring charts.
The pair had previously agreed a deal that French would give Field the ball to score, if given the opportunity, however in the heat of the moment it completely slipped his mind.
French said: “He [Field] said he was two behind on the top try scorer [list], there’s a bit of prize money for that and I forgot all about it. That was the plan that if I got through I was going to look for him and I forgot all about it, so he’ll be filthy.”
