Wigan boss Matt Peet admits nothing ever surprises him with Bevan French’s star quality.
The Aussie winger, 27, switched to his favoured full-back role last night and turned in a masterclass to ruin Leigh. Brilliant French sped through for a first half try before wonderfully creating second half efforts for Abbas Miski (2) and Jake Wardle. With Wigan missing stand-off Cade Cust due to a neck issue, fellow Aussie Jai Field switched to No6 from full-back and was just as devastating before departing with a strained hamstring in the 67th minute.
Peet, who was also without injured winger Liam Marshall, admitted: “I’m pleased with how we adapted but not surprised. Bevan looked like he loved it there. But he loves it on the wing, too. We’re always looking to get him more involved and it doesn’t surprise me he performed like that.
“We always know he’s capable of that and he should be really proud of that performance. It was great to watch. But it was a great team display. It was a pleasing performance. The result is always special but we took some positive steps forward. We knew what we were stepping into tonight, the event and the passion the opposition would bring as well as a lot.
"Credit to Leigh for the event they put on here. It brought the best out of us and needed that. But also our statistician Malc Clarke is in hospital and doing it tough at the moment so the lads were determined to put in a good performance tonight for him. I think they did.
Field scored two tries, including a brilliant side-stepping effort, in the Battle of the Borough between clubs who sit just seven miles apart. But he is now potentially facing a few weeks out and will miss the Good Friday showdown with champions St Helens. Promoted Leigh had won three of their last four games and trailed just 10-6 at the break.
But they ended up being blown away late on with the scintillating French running riot, Toby King also crossing for Wigan as they finished with a flourish. There was no glory for ex-Warriors boss Adrian Lam even though the Leopards recorded their biggest-ever Super League crowd of 9,189. Ex-Leeds winger Tom Briscoe opened the scoring with his 200th career try in the seventh minute.
But that was as good as it got for Leigh. In the build-up to that try, full-back Gareth O’Brien was hit late by Wardle who was yellow carded. Shaken O'Brien had to go off for a HIA but failed it so, crucially, did not return. To rub salt into the wounds, Wigan actually replied when down to 12 men. Harry Smith produced a raking 40/20 and, soon after, the electric French was skirting through for his 99th career touchdown.
His side didn’t look back and ruthlessly chalked up a fifth win from six games. Lam said: “With the speed they have, Jai and Bevan will cause some trouble to teams. It was hard to watch at the end as they pulled away. Gaz O’Brien being concussed early hurt us as well. But that’s the level we have to be at if we want to be top-four. We know we have to get up to those levels Wigan showed.”
