Thursday 12 April 2018 13:52, UK
Wigan Warriors second-half comeback was enough to beat the Catalans Dragons 32-23 at Stade Gilbert Brutus in a hotly contested Super League clash.
The bottom-of-the table Dragons dominated a Warriors side which looked a little flat in the first 40 minutes. Wigan, however, were back to their best in the second half and proved to be worthy winners in the south of France.
Warriors' head coach Shaun Wane revealed some harsh words at half-time was key in the comeback victory, Wigan were 19 points behind with less than half an hour to play.
After his side's victory in Perpignan, Wane said: "I'm very, very proud of that performance in the second half. We gave ourselves a lot to do but we turned up in the second-half with some great performances.
"We lost Benny (Ben Flower) and George (Williams) and we had some very good individual performances.We found a way to win. I am the ultimate optimist, especially with this team and I never doubted them."
Wane was extremely happy with the performance of his captain, Sean O'Loughlin. He continued: "I was really, really, really proud of what Lockers (Sean O'Loughlin) did. He showed today that he's the best. He is the best, no question.
"There's only him who could go from playing at prop to stand-off. All the praise that he gets from NRL players, Brett Finch and Ryan Hoffman, they're bang on, he is the best, no question. He's a rugby player and he's a winner."
Catalans Dragons head coach, Steve McNamara was understandably disappointed following his side's second-half collapse.
Despite leading 23-4 after 51 minutes, the Catalans fell away to eventually lose 32-23 and McNamara said: "I thought we were outstanding for 50 minutes, played exceptionally well against a very good team and then made some ridiculous decisions with the ball.
"Some of our defensive reads and discipline and ultimately couldn't get the momentum back.
"They're pretty distraught down there [in the changing rooms]. The preparation that the players have put in over Easter has been incredible.
"It's never easy for the Catalans for a number of reasons and the players have responded.
"Some of the things that we're trying to implement we saw for large periods of that game but some of the difficulties that the Catalans face certainly surfaced again for me in that second half with some of the decisions that went against us."
McNamara was happy with his side's start and first-half display, adding: "I thought we were incredible and we looked like a very good team.
"We had some difficulties, we had 15 men at the World Cup, we didn't have a pre-season.
"I feel like we're starting to come together as a team without a pre-season. That start showed us how we can play both in attack and defence against a very good team."
