Super League: Wigan beat Catalans to seal a semi-final place
Last Updated: 06/09/15 1:06pm
Matty Bowen inspired Wigan Warriors to a 42-16 victory over Catalans Dragons at The Den; a result which confirms their place in the First Utility Super League semi-finals.
Bowen inspired the Warriors with two tries, while Ben Flower, Oliver Gildart, Josh Charnley, Larne Patrick and Dom Manfredi also crossed the line in the Super 8s clash.
Wigan opened the scoring in the 15th minute as Flower powered through the Catalans defence, with Bowen adding the extras.
But the Dragons levelled the scores soon afterwards with their first try as Krisnan Inu scored in the far-left corner, which was followed by an impressive touchline conversion from Thomas Bosc.
But Wigan restored their lead just four minutes later as George Williams broke the defensive line, before finding Bowen, who crashed through to score despite the attention of Morgan Escare.
The visitors were then reduced to 12 men for 10 minutes as replacement Louis Anderson was yellow carded for kicking out unnecessarily.
Catalans held firm with a man less and hit back a minute after the break when Zeb Taia found Escare, who fed Scott Dureau to touch down before he added the extras.
Wigan stepped up the pace as Joel Tomkins timed his pass to perfection allowing full-back Bowen to race clear for his second try, while a grubber kick from Williams fell kindly for Gildart to cross the line and increase the lead further.
Catalans briefly rallied when Jordan Sigismeau scored in the corner after benefiting from a lucky bounce following successive penalties.
The Warriors responded quickly through a sensational 60-metre break from Bowen that culminated with Charnley squeezing over, and Patrick scoring from a Gildart kick in the corner.
Manfredi then scored after Matty Smith found him with a clever inside pass, and Bowen successfully added the extras to maintain his 100 per cent conversion rate.
