Super League: Wigan Warriors 10-18 Catalans Dragons - Les Dracs maintain unbeaten run

Manu Ma'u scored twice and was sinbinned on an eventful night for the Dragons

Unbeaten Catalans Dragons ended a 15-game winless run on their travels against Wigan Warriors, with Manu Ma'u scoring twice in an attritional game.

Steve McNamara's side led from the fifth minute when Ma'u ploughed over, and Arthur Romano's try extended the lead, finishing off a slick move.

Harry Smith kicked two Wigan points before half-time, and added a try and two more after the break.

Ma'u's second try took the game away from Wigan to seal Dragons' fourth win.

While it was a case of Catalans continuing their form, for the hosts it was a tough night on home turf.

Having bounced back from an opening round loss to Hull KR with two comprehensive victories and shut-outs against Wakefield and Castleford, this was a case of back to earth with a bump for Wigan.

Matt Peet's side were error-strewn and wasteful in the snowy conditions, failing to take advantage of countless field position and territory opportunities - epitomised by failure to capitalise on a 40-20 from Sam Powell's kick and Morgan Smithies coughing a penalty with the Cherry and Whites on the Dragons' line.

When they did get things right, such as Kaide Ellis' offload for Smith to score with Ma'u in the sin-bin, it was effective; however, some desperate defence such as Tom Johnstone's try-saver on Jake Wardle late on was measure of the visitors' intent.

Having not tasted victory at the DW Stadium since April 2011, this was a success for the Dragons to savour.

There were some fine flashes of quality, notably the cute kick from Tyrone May for Ma'u to stomp through and round full-back Jai Field, while Romano was released by sharp, incisive running and passing at the line from May and half-back partner Adam Keighran.

In the end, it was the character shown in tricky conditions, and the composure in opposition territory that allowed the Perpignan club to come away with the two points.

Wigan boss Matt Peet told BBC Radio Manchester:

"Most disappointing was probably the way we started, failing to control the ruck speed and allowed Catalans to control our play-the-ball speed.

"I was really pleased with the response, lads did what they said they were going to do in the second-half and we put ourselves in a position to come back and win the game.

"But, we made some mistakes at those points and crucially handed momentum back to Catalans. There were times I thought we were going to post a couple more tries but Catalans suffocated us."

Catalans head coach Steve McNamara:

"To come across here in these conditions and defend really well and play well is a good night. We had to hang in there and come through some tough moments.

"It's not been plain sailing for us by any stretch. We've got some results but also lots of things we are dealing with at the minute.

"I said it before the game, we are kind of moving the chess pieces around a little bit to try find a way to play and we've done it pretty well.

"Manu Ma'u had to overcome the death of his father a couple of weeks back. We took him out of the game last week even though he was available. He's been class for us both as a man and as a player. And he scored two good tries for us on a night that was difficult to score points."

Wigan: Field; French, King, Wardle, Marshall; Cust, Smith; Singleton, Powell, Cooper, Isa, Farrell, Smithies

Interchanges: Havard, Ellis, Mago, Pearce-Paul [Byrne]

Catalans: Mourgue; Davies, Romano, Laguerre, Johnstone; May, Keighran; McMeeken, McIlorum, Bousquet, Seguier, Ma'u, Garcia

Interchanges: Goudemand, Chan, Dezaria, Tison [Scimone]

Referee: Marcus Griffiths.

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