Wigan Warriors took on Catalans Dragons in Round 20 of Super League and here are the key talking points from the game.
Matt Peet’s side did manage to get back to winning ways as Wigan Warriors won 28-18 in a performance that was far from perfect.
It marked the first game since Joel Tomkins was confirmed as the permanent Catalans head coach, with the first of his games as interim coach also coming against Wigan. That game was a 48-0 so there was a marked improvement but Les Dracs are still a long way off it.
Pre-game it was confirmed that the side’s would travel to Paris in June 2026 to play a game, 30 years after PSG first played in Super League and 20 years after Catalans joined the competition.
As for the game, here are the major talking points after Wigan Warriors beat Catalans Dragons 28-18.
Wigan Warriors v Catalans Dragons talking points
Back to winning ways but far from perfect
A win is a win and at the moment, Wigan need all they can get because they’re in serious danger of missing the top two if Leigh continue their immense form. Having lost three of their last five, Matt Peet will just be happy to get the two points and hope the break comes at the right time.
That said, Wigan weren’t great tonight. They showed aspects of greatness with their goal-line defence, particularly early on, being impressive whilst Jack Farrimond and Zach Eckersley’s tries were touches of true class, however, errors were aplenty.
There’s been a notion all year that Wigan will click into gear when the time comes but until we see it, questions remain. It must be said that their injury issues are huge at the moment but whether they’ll have time to get enough wins together and find form with their fit squad before the play-offs is another questions.
Catalans’ character on show
Catalans were bang up for it early on and piled pressure onto Wigan only to fold to their first attack. Despite that, they stuck in the first-half all the way until 39 minutes when Kruise Leeming’s try sent Wigan into the sheds 16-0 up instead of just 10-0.
At that point, it looked like Wigan would run away with it in the second-half but Catalans showed plenty of fight, something that hasn’t been present on enough occasions this year. The fact they won the second-half shouldn’t go unnoticed at all.
Joel Tomkins’ appointment has raised eyebrows but if he can build his squad how he likes, something that’s set to see a huge turnover with over a dozen leaving and arriving, and elicit this sort of belief and effort then Catalans will be very interesting to watch in 2026.
Farrimond the future
Jack Farrimond is undoubtedly the future of Wigan Warriors but just how he and Bevan French can be squeezed into this team for the next few years is a key question. Farrimond will turn twenty just a couple of weeks after the Grand Final but he’ll already have played in some massive games.
One thing he won’t have is lots of games with the teenager playing just his 14th Super League game tonight but his talent deserves more than that. There’s clearly a case of making sure not to overexpose the teen and when you’ve got Harry Smith and Bevan French as your starters, it’s hard to find chances for someone like Farrimond.
However, his talent is clear for all to see and at some point, Matt Peet will have to back him over the likes of French or Smith. That’s not any time soon but with each impressive performance, Farrimond’s thirst for consistent first-team action will grow.
Are teams getting good at Captain’s Challenge or have referee calls been bad?
Captain’s Challenge was something that fans screamed out for before this season but now it’s here, many don’t like it. That’s probably on account of how it’s used given the lack of technology Super League has relative to the NRL, with the game constantly being slowed down as a result.
By minute 50 tonight, we had seen three challenges, all of which caused lengthy delays but more curiously, all of which were successful. Typically, teams have been very poor at challenging decisions, particularly near the start of the season when they got used to the process.
Tonight, they were far more successful and it begs the question whether teams are improving in their usage or whether Jack Smith had an off night with a number of missed calls.
Teams
Wigan Warriors XIII: Zach Eckersley; Jacob Douglas, Adam Keighran, Jake Wardle, Liam Marshall; Jack Farrimond, Harry Smith; Ethan Havard, Brad O’Neill, Tyler Dupree; Junior Nsemba, Liam Farrell, Kaide Ellis
Interchanges: Kruise Leeming, Harvie Hill, Patrick Mago, Liam Byrne
Catalans Dragons XIII: Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet; Fouad Yaha, Matthieu Laguerre, Leo Darrelatour, Tommy Makinson; Cesar Rouge, Theo Fages; Tariq Sims, Alrix Da Costa, Julian Bousquet; Benjamin Garcia, Bayley Sironen, Oliver Partington
Interchanges: Denive Balmforth, Bayley Sironen, Franck Maria, Romain Navarrete
