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| Fightback falls short after Coley dismissal |
Two late tries in vain |
With temperatures hitting the early thirties this was always going to be a war of attrition, and so it proved. Catalans were hoping to score their first point of the season against the table toppers after a 58-0 reverse at the DW earlier in the year. They did, but it was all a bit too late.
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Wigan started the brighter of the two sides, dominating early field position and the home side inviting pressure with mistakes brought about by fierce Wigan defence. Wigan starlet, Sam Tomkins, again playing in the full-back role, always looked dangerous and it was his good kick return that started an attacking move that culminated in Pat Richards opening the scoring after outpacing the Catalans defence and collecting Paul Deacon's pin-point kick through and it was Richards himself who added the touchline conversion.
It was Catalans who went closest to scoring next as a Dallas Johnson touch-down was ruled out by video referee Phil Bentham for an obstruction. But it was the visitors who did eventually score next when Mark Riddell managed to brush off four would-be tacklers to dive in to score to the right of the posts. Richards again added the extra two points to extend the Wigan lead to twelve points.
Wigan should have extended their lead after a penalty was given to them for a late challenge on the ball, however Goulding failed to keep a hold of Sam Tomkins' pass and the ball trickled into touch. Richards did add an extra two points with five seconds remaining, opting to go for goal with time against him.
Just four minutes into the second half and Kevin Walters' team-talk went out of the window as Thomas Leuluai managed to scoot in from acting half after Sam Tomkins went close, Richards again added the extra two points and Wigan hit the twenty point mark.
From the restart, Thomas Bosc kicked the ball out on the full and Wigan again looked to dominate the play from the resulting penalty. Andy Coley managed to squeeze his big frame through the smallest of gaps and drive his way over the line. Richards replicated his kick from two minutes previous and Wigan looked to be maintaining their lead at the top of the table.
Wigan confirmed that when Martin Gleeson went in on the back of another Wigan penalty a smart move saw the ball pass through four sets of Wigan hands and Gleeson showed smart footwork to out-smart the home-side's defence.
Catalans managed to break their duck against the Warriors for the season when Clint Greenshields juggled and eventually latched onto a flowing move involving Brent Sherwin and Bosc to touch down. Bosc added the extra two points.
That was just a blip as the visitors responded with Goulding going in at the corner. The game then took a turn for the worse as Andy Coley was sent-off for a malicious high shot on Jamal Fakir that left the French international with a mild concussion. Tempers flared again moments later as Olivier Elima and Leuluai nearly came to blows.
Wigan looked to have scored again with 14 minutes to go when Joel Tomkins managed to spin his way over the line, however the video referee ruled in the hosts favour saying that the second rower had not grounded the ball. Greenshields again managed to go over with six minutes remaining to gain some consolation for the hosts as he managed to ghost in through the Wigan defence, Bosc again added the extra two to make the score line a little more respectable.
In the following set, the Dragons were given a penalty and the hosts made Wigan pay as they scored possibly the best try of the night. In a flowing move, Bosc and Sherwin combined to send Greenshields through a gap who in-turn sent Dane Carlaw through a bigger gap. The big Australian drew the winger and sent in Cyril Stacul. Bosc failed from the touchline.
Wigan Warriors boss Michael Maguire paid tribute to his side's performance especially given the warm, humid South of France weather. "They were tough conditions for us out there tonight and it was a tough game for the boys out there. With it being warm out here all day today and with the travelling over here, I thought the boys handled it very well, and a lot of them showed how professional they are. It got really tough in the second half and the boys managed to keep hanging in there."
With future challenges coming up heading into the play-offs, Maguire was keen to stress that his Wigan side will not look too far ahead. "We're really concentrating week to week to be honest with you. I don't think there is too much benefit for us to be looking too far ahead; we've got to keep improving week in and week out and make sure that we are ready for next week's game. That will be another tough challenge for us as we start to run in towards the business end of the season."
Catalans coach, Kevin Walters was left disappointed by his sides lack of discipline with ball in hand after seeing his side go down to the table toppers. "It was tough for us out there tonight, we should have been a lot better out there tonight. We train in those sorts of conditions and we should have revelled in them and used them to our advantage, but unfortunately our inability to keep a hold of the ball cost us dearly. Our completion rate didn't get anywhere near the targets we set of ourselves and that is disappointing."
Walters clearly fancied the chances of turning round a fourteen point half-time deficit. "I thought we were still in the game at half-time. I was very confident of us putting in a good second half performance similar to our last home game against Wakefield, but we got away to a poor start and they managed to complete their first six or seven sets of the half which made it difficult for us to get any ball and it was always going to be difficult when they're coming first and we're coming last and it's tough to bridge that gap."
Walters also brought up the injury crisis that has plagued the French side all season. "We've had ten guys sat on the sideline tonight. To compete with the top sides in this league you need all your top players available, especially against a top side like Wigan. We're not sure if we'll have any of those boys available next week either, but we'll keep assessing them throughout the week."
The boys put in a spirited display in the second half against the table toppers on Sunday night and it is the on-form prop forward Rémi Casty that we give the sang-et-or.net man of the match award to, closely followed by Clint the magician and the maestro, Thomas Bosc who earned two and one point respectively.
MATCH FACTS
DRAGONS 16-34 WIGAN
| | DRAGONS | T | G | DG | | WIGAN | T | G | DG |
| 1 | Greenshields | 2 | | |
6 | S Tomkins | | | |
| 26 | Stacul | 1 | | |
21 | Goulding | 1 | | |
| 3 | Raguin | | | |
3 | Gleeson | 1 | | |
| 18 | Carlaw | | | |
4 | Carmont | | | |
| 28 | Vaccari | | | |
5 | Richards | 1 | 5 | |
| 7 | Bosc | | 2 | |
19 | Deacon | | | |
| 30 | Sherwin | | | |
7 | Leuluai | 1 | | |
| 24 | Casty | | | |
10 | Coley | 1 | | |
| 9 | McGuire | | | |
15 | McIlorum | | | |
| 10 | Guisset | | | |
14 | Prescott | | | |
| 11 | Elima | | | |
12 | J Tomkins | | | |
| 17 | Gossard | | | |
25 | Farrell | | | |
| 13 | Johnson | | | |
29 | Tuson | | | |
| 16 | Barthau | | | |
8 | Fielden | | | |
| 22 | Fakir | | | |
9 | Riddell | 1 | | |
| 27 | Simon | | | |
11 | Hansen | | | |
| 29 | A Bentley | | | |
23 | Mossop | | | |
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