Millard fires Dragons to a league double over Wigan

Catalan Dragons 20 Wigan 1

The Wigan coach, Michael Maguire, handed the credit to Catalan Dragons after they completed a season's double over the Super League champions. Daryl Millard (twice) and Jean Philippe Baile touched down for the Dragons, who were playing in their first match in Montpellier, and Scott Dureau kicked four goals. Sam Tomkins's two tries, both converted by Pat Richards, were all the Warriorshad to show for their trip to France.

Maguire said: "[The] Catalan[s] came at us tonight and we weren't on the money, we had a lot of opportunities but a lack of execution let us down at times. I've got to give [them] a lot of credit, they came at us defensively. We've come down here and gone into camp, as it were, and got a lot out of it, and we came into tonight looking to put in a good performance but we faced a team that came at us and played extremely well.

"It was a tough game, but some ill- discipline and errors crept into our game. We'll lick our wounds over the next few days and go back to work this week but we need to bounce back. We had plenty of opportunities but they have hit us twice now."

The defeat ended Wigan's winning run of eight Super League games since the Dragons beat them at the DW Stadium in April. The Warriors stay third in the table while the Dragons are in fifth.

"Yeah, for sure it's the end of the run," Maguire said, "but we now want to go on another run that will help our position later in the year. It's natural that after the game we're going to have lots of ups and downs, and we'll take a lot out of our loss, but there is a long way to go."

A delighted Dragons coach, Trent Robinson, said: "That was a bit of a game for the purists with the huge defensive effort from both sides. I think that we could have attacked a little bit better than we did but saying that, both sides defended really well – they're the strongest defensive side, along with Warrington."

Robinson reserved special praise for the prop Jason Baitieri, who put in some massive tackles. "Jase is one of our smaller pack members but he plays tough and hard every week and his performances are full of courage," he said. "For him to start tonight against Wigan was an easy decision for me as we know what we're going to get from him every week. Ian Henderson went out there and played 80 minutes for us tonight, which was another special effort."

Catalan Dragons Greenshields; Blanch, Baile, Millard, Vaccari; Sa, Dureau; Ferriol, Henderson, Baitieri, Paea, Raguin, Mounis. Substitutes used Menzies, Simon, Fakir, Pelissier.

Wigan S Tomkins; Charnley, J Tomkins, Carmont, Richards; Finch, Deacon; Prescott, Leuluai, Mossop, Hansen, Hoffman, O'Loughlin. Substitutes used McIlorum, Lima, Farrell, Tuson.

Referee R Silverwood (Dewsbury).