Wigan Warriors v Catalans Dragons: Super 8s preview
Last Updated: 04/09/15 4:09pm
Wigan welcome three key players back from injury for Saturday's historic match with Catalans at The Den.
Joe Burgess, Taulima Tautai (both leg) and Anthony Gelling (rib) have all been named in Shaun Wane's 19-man squad as the Warriors become the first team to take a Super League game to London.
Liam Farrell has been ruled out for three weeks after suffering a chest contusion injury in training. He drops out of the squad along with youngsters Ryan Hampshire and Ryan Sutton.
Wigan were 28-0 winners at Warrington in their last outing, with Oliver Gildart scoring a try on his debut, and Shaun Wane is keen to build on that performance at the home of Millwall FC.
"We were good that night and did a lot of things well so it's about building on that," said Wane.
"We'll be up against a very good Catalans team though. They are playing unbelievably well at the minute and can be a match for anyone on their day so we know that we need to be at our very best."
Catalans also go into Saturday's game on the back of a victory, having defeated Castleford last time out despite playing over half the game with 12 men.
Ben Pomeroy serves the first game of a six-match suspension for his horror tackle on Ashley Gibson, while Dragons head coach Laurent Frayssinous is also without a number of players due to injury.
Vincent Duport, Michael Oldfield, Remi Casty, Greg Mounis and Fouad Yaha all miss the trip to the capital, with Thibaut Margalet drafted into their 19-man squad.
Catalans were resounding 58-16 winners when Wigan visited the Stade Gilbert Brutus in May but they have recorded just one victory on the road in 2015, a 36-point success at Wakefield in April.
Wigan Warriors: John Bateman, Matty Bowen, Joe Burgess, Josh Charnley, Tony Clubb, Dom Crosby, Ben Flower, Anthony Gelling, Oliver Gildart, Dom Manfredi, Michael McIlorum, Lee Mossop, Sean O'Loughlin, Larne Patrick, Sam Powell, Matty Smith, Taulima Tautai, Joel Tomkins and George Williams.
Catalans Dragons: Morgan Escare, Todd Carney, Scott Dureau, Olivier Elima, Ian Henderson, Zeb Taia, Louis Anderson, Thomas Bosc, Jeff Lima, Eloi Pelissier, Elliott Whitehead, Ben Garcia, Julian Bousquet, Antoni Maria, Jason Baitieri, Tony Gigot, Thibaut Margalet, Krisnan Inu, Jordan Sigismeau.
