The Warriors will now travel to Leeds next Friday night – with a spot at Old Trafford the following week awaiting the winner.

In front of a near 10,000 capacity crowd, including around 200 travelling Warriors fans, Wigan produced a fantastic performance against a Dragons side that had put Warrington to the sword the previous week.

In the crowd was France coach John Monie, who was in charge of the Warriors when they won the inaugural – and only – Grand Final a decade ago.

On the back of a strong defensive effort they scored some scorching tries including two each by Australians Trent Barrett and Pat Richards, both of whom excelled in an exciting and entertaining sudden-death match.

After leading 14-10 at half-time, Richards scored Wigan's next 14 points as Wigan built up a 28-20 lead by the hour mark – and then they piled on the points to take the game away from the hosts.

With St Helens beating Leeds on Friday night to book their own spot in the Grand Final, both Wigan and Catalans went into this match knowing a trip to Headingley next Friday night would await the winners.

Wigan survived an early onslaught from Catalans, who forced two drop-outs and repeatedly threatened the Warriors line without making the pressure or possession count on the scoreboard.

But in the 19th minute, the Dragons opened the scoring when Dimitri Pelo was unleashed from his own half and weaved past Richard Mathers. Thomas Bosc's conversion made it 6-0.

Wigan's response was immediate, keeping the ball alive for Gareth Hock to offload to George Carmont for a try but Richards could not add the extras.

Catalans seemed to tire and the Warriors took advantage on the half-hour, when a sweeping attack down the right flank saw Barrett cross after good approach from the exceptional Joel Tomkins and Cameron Phelps.
Richards made no mistake with the goal to make the score 10-6.

Hock, who had impressed in the early stages, lost the ball in a crunching, high tackle and Casey McGuire picked up the loose ball and ran in, but the score was ruled out by the video referee.

On the back of that penalty, Wigan managed to extend their lead before the break when Barrett's slick pass allowed Mathers to slice through the Catalans defence to make it 14-6.

The scoring before half-time was not complete, though, as the home side grabbed a lifeline through a well-crafted Pelo try to make it 14-10 at the interval.

Wigan started the second-half encouragingly, but a Richards try was ruled out by the video referee as Barrett was offside.

Minutes later Richards made no mistake as he collected John Wilson's fumbled ball and galloped 90m down field before converting his own kick to make it 20-10.

Catalans, though, refused to give in as they struck back with quick-fire tries from Oliver Elima - who brushed off Stuart Fielden – and Justin Murphy to draw the scores level at 20-20.

Richards' second try in the 58th minute and two goals gave them a 28-20 lead. And they turned the screw with Barrett's second touchdown and a Mark Calderwood effort from a Clint Greenshields spill to make it 38-20 with quarter-of-an-hour remaining.

Hock and Calderwood added tries, sandwiching a Catalans touchdown by Wilson.