Wigan head coach Matt Peet insisted star half-back Bevan French will not cruise back into his side’s starting line-up despite stepping out of the treatment room to play a cameo role in their 40-10 Betfred Challenge Cup final thumping of Hull KR.
French returned from a hamstring injury six weeks earlier than planned, marking his appearance on the hour mark by scoring a try within two minutes after his understudy, Jack Farrimond, had paved the way to victory with two first-half tries.
The 20-year-old Farrimond picked up the prestigious Lance Todd man of the match trophy for his troubles, and Peet stressed he is still the man in charge of the shirt as he shapes up for the remainder of the Super League season.
Peet said: “Jack is the incumbent, he got us here, and we have every confidence in him. Bevan’s a very good player to be able to carry on the bench, and I would have been comfortable with him playing for the full 90 minutes.
“I was very confident and I knew that if it didn’t go his way it wouldn’t be through lack of effort or poor practice. Some weeks he’ll turn up like he did today and have the time of his life and other weeks he won’t, but we’ll stick together and keep working hard.
“With 20 minutes left Bevan said ‘I’m 100 per cent ready to go’, and I’m glad I got him on so the fans got to see him and he scored a nice try. Jack killed it and gets the Lance Todd and we managed to get some minutes for Bevan. We’re going to need both of them moving forward.”
Hull KR head coach Willie Peters conceded his side were simply not up for the fight after an uncharacteristically poor performance that saw them lose their grip on the first portion of last season’s treble trophy haul.
Rovers lost forward Dean Hadley to a head injury after less than three minutes and an ankle blow left playmaker Mikey Lewis limping through the second period, but Peters had no excuses as his final Wembley appearance prior to next season’s move to Australia’s NRL fell flat.
“Wigan were outstanding today so I don’t want to take that away from them, but there were periods in that game that just wasn’t us,” said Peters. “The hungrier side certainly won.
“We had some opportunities in that first half but we didn’t want it enough, then when Wigan defended their try-line we felt sorry for ourselves and gave penalties away and didn’t handle that. But as much as we weren’t at our best, Wigan were very good.”
The manner of the loss served as a stark contrast to Rovers’ stunning 2025 campaign, in which Wigan came up distinctly second best, culminating in Peters’ men rising to the occasion to win their first Grand Final last October.
And Peters acknowledged that his opponents had relished their role as unlikely underdogs, adding: “They’ve had a whole pre-season thinking about us and hating on us and making sure they got it right against us on the big occasions.
“That was evident to see, and I’d like to think that we can replicate that and finish on our terms at the back end of the year, and be as hungry as they were, because they were very hungry today.”
Peters confirmed Hadley failed his head injury assessment which will rule him out of Saturday’s Super League trip to Wakefield, and that Lewis sustained an ankle injury towards the end of the first half but “felt capable of playing on”.
