Dragons too hot for Wigan
Clint Greenshields and Jason Ryles scored two tries apiece to help Catalans Dragons thump Wigan 40-24 in Perpignan.
Last Updated: 14/04/09 8:52am
Catalans Dragons made sure it was a far-from a Happy Easter for Wigan with a 40-24 thumping of the Warriors at Stade Gilbert Brutus.
Clint Greenshields and Jason Ryles scored two tries apiece to help the hosts secure their first regular season success on French soil since last July.
Wigan had led 14-4 in the early stages but were blown away by an 18-point burst from the Dragons in the space of 14 first-half minutes.
The second half proved one-way traffic before the visitors finally broke a run of 36 successive points for the Dragons with two late consolation scores.
Well beaten
In the end the Warriors were well beaten though, having failed to live with the power of their opponents' pack so soon after a bruising derby clash with Saints.
For the first 20 minutes it seemed that Brian Noble's side had picked up where they left off against their arch-rivals on Thursday night, though this time they managed to take their chances.
Despite Dimitri Pelo giving Les Catalans the lead after just two minutes, Amos Roberts and Shaun Ainscough, who crossed for his ninth of the campaign, quickly replied with simple run-ins to put Wigan ahead.
Martin Gleeson also scored in the opening quarter, the centre getting his first try for the Cherry and Whites when he swapped passes with Roberts out wide.
With Pat Richards converting from next to the posts, the Warriors were 10 points up and looking well set to bounce back from their loss to St Helens.
The Dragons surged ahead before half time, though, thanks to a blitz of points that began with new captain Greg Bird fighting his way over.
Steve Bell's offload then set up Gregory Mounis before Ryles got his first of the night. Thomas Bosc converted all three to make it 22-14 at the break.
The second half saw Les Catalans continue to dominate, though only after Sean O'Loughlin's forward pass had wasted a great chance to get Wigan right back in the contest.
Greenshields made no mistake with his opportunities, firstly reading Bosc's grubber against the run of play beautifully before grabbing a straightforward second after his team-mates had kept the ball alive to create space for the full-back to dive over.
Boot-iful Bosc
Ryles followed suit in bagging a brace shortly after the hour mark, Bosc adding the extras again to finish with a personal haul of 12 points.
To their credit the Warriors continued to battle on and their travelling support finally had something to cheer for the first time since the 20th minute when Sam Tomkins cantered in.
Richards horribly sliced the conversion, perhaps summing up his team's performance, but did make amends before the final hooter when he somehow reeled in Thomas Leuluai's cross-field bomb using just one hand.
However, it was all too little too late as the Dragons ran out comfortable winners, giving them a little bit of revenge against the team that knocked them out of the play-offs last year.
