FRENCH FANCIES IT
Bevan backs his partnership with Field to turn the heat on Saints
WIGAN star Bevan French admits he does not have to work on his dynamic partnership with Jai Field and it could get even better.
The speedy winger finished as Betfred Super League’s top scorer last term with 31 tries.
Many of those came thanks to fellow Australian Field, the dazzling full-back whose silky skills ripped to shreds so many opponents.
French is 5/1 favourite to top the charts again, with Warriors getting their new campaign under way at Hull KR on Saturday week. And he concedes he has never had a more polished, exhilarating link with a team-mate.
French, who joined from Parramatta in 2019, said: “I have had a lot of good partnerships with people on the field. But I think ours comes without really much practice, to be honest.
“We don’t really go for set-ups or talk about it or plan for it. It’s just the background we have, both playing touch rugby and we’re sort of on the same wavelength.
“It’s cool to have that with somebody. You don’t have to talk about things but just be in that moment and react to each other.”
Field weighed in with 20 tries plus 24 assists while French contributed 16 assists. So Wigan fans were delighted when French ended months of speculation about a return to NRL by signing a new two-year deal with the Challenge Cup holders in September.
After finishing second and losing to Leeds in their Super League semi-final, he now hopes to help finally wrestle the title from St Helens, who have won it four times in a row.
But the 27-year-old, who scored a Super League record seven tries in a game against Hull last year, insisted: “We’ve not looked too far into it.
“We’re looking at getting better. We have to have that confidence.
“And we know we’ll go out and compete every year but we haven’t spoken much about the outcome at the end of the year. “It’s purely focused on week by week. Trying to improve each week and trying to get better.
“There’s two new centres now – Toby King on my side and Jake Wardle – and a couple of young boys pushing for spots as well. We’re excited for the start.
“Jai is flying. We have a good backfield and hopefully with the two new centres we can build those combinations further.”
On his new deal, he added: “It’s good to have all that out of the way and now solely focus on footy. I know it was a big talking point at the back end of the year but at the same time I’m not one to let all that outside noise affect me. It wasn’t too much of a distraction.”