Super League: Warriors on song in six-try demolition of Dragons
Last Updated: 13/07/14 12:01am
Matty Bowen scored two tries and had a hand in two more as Wigan ran riot in Perpignan against the Catalan Dragons with a 37-16 win.
Bowen was superb as he turned in a man-of-the-match performance to help the Warriors move into third spot in the standings on 28 points, two adrift of leaders St Helens.
For Catalan, who were leading midway through the first half but saw their efforts hit by the loss of two players to the sin-bin at the start of the second period, a ninth defeat of the season leaves them in seventh spot on 21 points.
Bowen was quickly into his stride and set up the first try for Tony Clubb after 11 minutes with a superb kick return and winning a penalty, from which field position George Williams sent in Clubb with a short pass.
Catalans fought back, though, with Zeb Taia offloading to Morgan Escare who raced over for his 18th try of the season.
The Dragons then took the lead after Leon Pryce's kick to the right corner was knocked back by Michael Oldfield and touched down by Elliott Whitehead.
That was as good as it got for the home side however, as Wigan - led by the brilliant Bowen - roared back to take a 24-10 half-time lead.
Flowing move
Bowen got on the end of a flowing move that saw the ball go through five sets of hands before the full-back fended away Taia to race over for Wigan's second try.
The final three minutes of the first half then saw Bowen and Josh Charnley link up to devastating effect as Wigan crossed for two more scores.
First Bowen created a try for Charnley in the right corner, the England winger scoring his ninth try in four games, before Bowen touched down following a 70-metre effort that saw him exchange passes with Charnley.
After the break, Catalan had both Jason Baitieri and Benjamin Garcia sin-binned in a run of five consecutive penalties conceded in a three-minute period - referee James Child receiving the wrath of the majority of the 9,500 crowd.
Wigan took full advantage as first Scott Taylor scored a short-range effort after good work by Anthony Gelling, then Joe Burgess latched on to Dan Sarginson's pass and racing 30 metres unopposed.
With nine minutes remaining Matty Smith kicked a field goal to extend Wigan's lead before Damien Cardace raced over in the dying moments to offer little consolation to the Dragons.
