Wigan Warriors back up Wembley triumph with convincing Paris victory over Catalans Dragons

Wigan Warriors backed up last weekend’s Challenge Cup final success with a comfortable 40-16 victory over Catalans Dragons in Paris as they marked a historic evening for Super League in style.

Matt Peet’s side were far too strong for the Dragons at the Stade Jean-Bouin, racing into a commanding first-half lead before seeing the game out professionally in the French capital.

The fixture formed part of Catalans’ celebrations of 20 years in Super League, while the competition itself is marking its 30th anniversary, but it was Wigan who stole the show with another impressive display just seven days after lifting the Challenge Cup at Wembley.

The Warriors made the perfect start and opened the scoring inside three minutes. Catalans were forced into a goal-line drop-out, and Wigan immediately took advantage, with Jai Field showing excellent support play to latch onto Junior Nsemba’s offload and touch down. Adam Keighran added the conversion for a 6-0 lead.

Wigan continued to dominate the early exchanges and doubled their advantage on 14 minutes. George Marsden produced a pinpoint kick which was brilliantly collected by Nsemba, who reached over the line to score. Keighran again converted to make it 12-0.

Catalans responded midway through the first half when Lewis Dodd’s grubber kick sat up perfectly for Solomona Faataape, who raced through to score. Toby Sexton converted to reduce the deficit to six points.

However, the game swung firmly in Wigan’s favour shortly afterwards when Dragons man Chris Satae was sin-binned. The prop deliberately conceded a penalty while attempting to earn a captain’s challenge, only for the challenge to prove unsuccessful. Keighran kicked the resulting penalty goal to extend Wigan’s lead to 14-6.

The visitors then took full advantage of the extra man. 17-year-old Marsden produced a moment to remember on 32 minutes, slicing through the Catalans defence and beating Charlie Staines, Matty Russell and Kruise Leeming on a superb solo run to the corner.

Three minutes later, Jack Farrimond produced one of the tries of the evening. The 20-year-old halfback chased his own grubber kick, hacked the ball forward again and won the race to ground it in the in-goal area. Keighran converted.

Wigan weren’t finished there. With Satae still off the field, Field burst clear and sent Jake Wardle over to score, with Keighran adding the extras as the Warriors raced into a dominant 30-6 half-time lead.

Catalans started the second half brightly and reduced the deficit through Zac Lipowicz, who powered onto a flat pass from Dodd to score. Sexton was unable to convert.

The Dragons were handed another opportunity when Wigan prop Patrick Mago was sin-binned on 52 minutes for a trip on Dodd, but the Warriors defended strongly and prevented the hosts from building any real momentum.

Wigan finally added to their tally with 11 minutes remaining. Zach Eckersley continued his outstanding season with an acrobatic finish in the corner, taking his tally to 21 tries in 17 appearances across all competitions.

Catalans grabbed a late consolation when Satae crossed with seven minutes remaining, but any hopes of a comeback were quickly extinguished.

A clever scrum play from Taylor Kerr created the final score of the evening, with Keighran crossing to cap another impressive display. The Australian converted his own try to complete the scoring and seal a convincing 40-16 victory.

Catalans: Charlie Staines; Matty Russell, Matthieu Laguerre, Solomona Faataape, Nick Cotric; Toby Sexton, Lewis Dodd; Josh Allen, Ugo Tison, Romain Navarrete, Franck Maria, Zac Lipowicz, Benjamin Garcia. Subs: Chris Satae, Julian Bousquet, Ben Condon, Kruise Leeming. 18th man: Tommy Makinson.

Tries: Faataape, Lipowicz, Satae | Goals: Sexton 2/3

Wigan: Jai Field; Zach Eckersley, Adam Keighran, Jake Wardle, Noah Hodkinson; Jack Farrimond, George Marsden; Ethan Havard, Brad O’Neill, Luke Thompson, Junior Nsemba, Liam Farrell, Ollie Partington. Subs: Kaide Ellis, Patrick Mago, Sam Eseh, Taylor Kerr. 18th man: Kian McDermott.

Tries: Field, Nsemba, Marsden, Farrimond, Wardle, Eckersley, Keighran | Goals: Keighran 6/8