Bevan French steals the show as Castleford suffer their first loss of the season

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As two unbeaten teams in Wigan Warriors and Castleford Tigers faced each other at the DW Stadium on Thursday night it saw the return of Bevan French for the Warriors which was his first appearance of the season.

Ahead of the match, Wigan coach Adrian Lam had a big decision to make as to who would play at fullback.

Zak Hardaker had taken up the position since the first game of the season in the absence of French, the 29-year-old has performed brilliantly since the start of the season scoring five tries in five games included a try against the Tigers last night.

Keeping the England International at full-back is what the Warriors coach decided with Bevan starting out on the wing.

It was the Australian who grabbed the headlines on his return with the winger scoring two tries in his side’s 22-12 win over Daryl Powell’s side.

His first try came in the first-half after Jackson Hastings found Liam Farrell with a long sweeping ball out wide. The centre was able to draw his man before feeding French on his outside who avoided the on rushing defender to score in the corner.

Hastings, the 2019 Steve Prescott Man of Steel, was influential in attack all game for the hosts. No more than his hand in Bevan’s second try. A wonderfully waited kick from the half back in behind the Tigers winger Derrell Olphers allowed French to race past the winger to collect the ball and put his side back in the lead.

In his post-match press conference, Adrian Lam was pleased to have him back out on the field but insisted it will take a couple of weeks for him to get back to full fitness.

“It’s great to have Bevan back out on the field and the players have showed how pleased they are for him in the dressing room. It is good he got through the game. It’s going to take a couple more weeks for Bevan to be back to full match fitness and sharpness”.

He praised his side toughness and courage after a hard-fought win over Castleford.

“I thought we were really courageous and showed our toughness tonight. We had some decisions go against us but we dug deep to get the win”.

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