Bevan French

Bevan French (born 4 January 1996) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a fullback and winger for the Wigan Warriors in the Super League.

Bevan French
Personal information
Full nameBevan French
Born (1996-01-04) 4 January 1996
Tingha, New South Wales, Australia
Height181 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight86 kg (13 st 8 lb)
Playing information
PositionFullback, Wing
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2016–19 Parramatta Eels 47 35 0 0 140
2019– Wigan Warriors 12 9 0 0 32
Total 59 44 0 0 172
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2017–19 Indigenous All Stars 2 1 0 0 4
As of 5 October 2019
Source: [1][2]

He has played for the Parramatta Eels in the NRL and the Indigenous All Stars side.

Background

French was born in Tingha, New South Wales, Australia, and is of Indigenous Australian descent. He is the nephew of former Australian international and St George Illawarra Dragons winger Nathan Blacklock.

He played his junior rugby league for the Inverell Hawks.[3] French was educated and 2013 graduate at Inverell High School.

Playing career

Early career

At the age of 15, French began playing for Tingha's first-grade team at fullback, playing against men twice his age.[4]

Early in 2013, French was pursued by six NRL clubs; Parramatta, Melbourne, Newcastle, the Gold Coast, Penrith and St. George Illawarra. He eventually signed for the Parramatta Eels, stating that he chose the club because he "just had a feeling". In 2015 and 2016, he played for the Eels' NYC team.[5] In 2015, he began the season at five-eighth, before moving back to fullback for the remainder of the year, finishing the season with 16 tries in 22 games.[6] On 11 July 2015, he re-signed with the Eels on a 3-year contract to the end of the 2018 season.[7]

2016

In February, French participated in Eels' 2016 NRL Auckland Nines tournament win, scoring 8 tries in the tournament, the record for most tries in a Nines tournament.[8] He was also named in the team of the tournament.[9] In Round 12 of the 2016 NRL season, French made his NRL debut against the Newcastle Knights, scoring a try in the 20-18 win at Hunter Stadium.[10][11] In Round 15, against the South Sydney Rabbitohs, French scored his first double in the Eels 30-12 win at ANZ Stadium.[12] In Round 17, against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, French scored his first hat trick of tries in the Eels 34-24 loss at Shark Park.[13] In the last 2 matches of the regular season, French switched with Michael Gordon to play from the wing to fullback, scoring 2 hat tricks in 2 weeks in a row in the Eels 30-18 win against the St George Illawarra Dragons and 40-18 win against the New Zealand Warriors.[14] French quickly went on to be a try-scoring sensation in his debut season the NRL, being the club's highest try-scorer with 19 tries in 13 matches in the 2016 NRL season.

2017

On 10 February 2017, French represented the Indigenous All Stars against the World All Stars in the 2017 All Stars match, playing off the interchange bench in the 34-8 win at Hunter Stadium.[15] French played 16 games for Parramatta in the 2017 season scoring 9 tries but missed most of the season with a troubling hamstring injury. French injured himself just before the start of the finals series, Parramatta's first in eight seasons and missed both finals games against Melbourne and North Queensland.[16][17][18]

2018

French started the 2018 season at fullback ahead of Clint Gutherson who was still out with an injury and the returning Jarryd Hayne. In round 3 of the season, French injured his shoulder in the 14-4 loss to Cronulla and missed the following two games. He was then recalled to the side to face Canberra but was slammed by fans and the media after the match due to the fact that he only made one run for the whole game making 15 metres. French was dropped by coach Brad Arthur for the following week. French spoke of his demotion saying "We spoke about how my shoulder was going to be in pain going into the game and getting a needle before the game that was supposedly meant to numb it for six hours or something, But 15 minutes in I felt it. Because of that I didn't really get into the game and it was playing in the back of my mind, Injury did play a part in my poor performance but it was form as well. Brad pulled me into his office at training and sort of explained why I was dropped and I couldn't blame him, it was the right thing to do."[19]

On 2 June 2018, French was named at fullback for Parramatta's round 13 clash against Newcastle but was taken from the field only two minutes into the match due to a nasty head collision involving Newcastle player Kalyn Ponga.[20] On 13 July 2018, Parramatta who were in last place on the ladder played against Newcastle and with 34 seconds remaining French crossed over to score the match winning try only for the decision to be overturned due to video replays showing French had put a foot into touch while grounding the ball. Newcastle held on to win the game 18-16.[21] On 7 August, French was demoted to reserve grade by coach Brad Arthur after a number of mixed performances. It came in the wake of French speaking to the media a week earlier declaring he was open to the idea of leaving Parramatta if he was not given a chance to play fullback.[22][23]

2019

At the start of the 2019 NRL season, French was left out of the Parramatta side as coach Brad Arthur went with Blake Ferguson and Maika Sivo as the preferred wing options and Clint Gutherson as the preferred fullback. On 22 April 2019, French scored the first ever try at the new Western Sydney Stadium for the Wentworthville Magpies against Western Suburbs in a 20-14 victory.[24]

On 27 July, French signed a two-year contract with English side Wigan after being frozen out of the first team at Parramatta. Before signing with Wigan, French spent his time with Wentworthville in the Canterbury Cup NSW competition making 15 appearances and scoring 13 tries.[25][26]

French made his debut appearance for Wigan against Hull F.C. coming off the bench in a 36-18 victory.[27]

gollark: There is a difference between "actual harassment" and "discussing controversial topics".
gollark: People are uncomfortable with lots of things. NSFW stuff is a fairly reasonable dividing line, inasmuch as there are laws surrounding it *too* and possible practical considerations with reading it, well, at work and such.
gollark: Yes I can.
gollark: It is very troubling, yes.
gollark: Meh.

References
  1. loverugbyleague
  2. Ferguson, Shawn Dollin and Andrew. "Bevan French - Career Stats & Summary - Rugby League Project". Rugbyleagueproject.org. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  3. Chris Barrett. "Parramatta Eels young gun Bevan French in line for NRL debut against Newcastle". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  4. "Huge wrap on Parramatta Eels' 17-year-old Bevan French, who six NRL clubs were chasing". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  5. "Team List: Eels NYC v Storm - Eels". Parraeels.com.au. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  6. "F". Nyc Database. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  7. "Eels re-sign seven players". Zerotackle.com. 11 July 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  8. Michael Carayannis (7 February 2016). "Auckland Nines: Parramatta Eels beat New Zealand Warriors to claim title". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  9. "Auckland Nines Team of the Tournament". NRL.com. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  10. "Foran injured as Eels hold off Knights". NRL.com. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  11. "Parramatta Eels young gun Bevan French in line for NRL debut against Newcastle". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  12. "Parramatta Eels Keep Finals Hope Alive With 30-12 Win Over South Sydney". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  13. "Parramatta Eels' Bevan French matched only by Israel Folau as home visit sparks try-scoring spree". Smh.com.au. 3 July 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  14. "French bags three as Eels thump Warriors". News.com.au. 4 September 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  15. "Indigenous All-Stars Thump World All-Stars 34-8". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  16. https://m.nrl.com/eels-v-cowboys-schick-preview/tabid/10874/newsid/112083/default.aspx%5B%5D
  17. http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/Custom/Ny0xNjk2LTQtLS0tLS0yMjc3NC0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0=
  18. http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-match-report/nrl-2017-parramatta-eels-defeat-gold-coast-titans-but-lose-bevan-french-to-hamstring-injury-20170817-gxytuq.html
  19. https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/04/26/parramattas-bevan-french-says-an-ineffective-pain-killing-injection-contributed-to-his-axing/
  20. https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/live-nrl-parramatta-eels-v-newcastle-knights-live-score-updates-news-blog/news-story/96dc846388bfa8e69be2f00f8414bdde
  21. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-13/nrl-sharks-beat-panthers-knights-edge-out-eels/9985126
  22. https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/french-becomes-the-latest-eels-big-name-to-feel-the-axe-20180807-p4zw3i.html
  23. https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/teams/eels/bevan-french-open-to-leaving-eels-to-pursue-fullback-position-as-rival-club-circles/news-story/3cccb9038e0b7dbc778808b1e0eeccda
  24. "Magpies record first ever win at Bankwest Stadium". Parramatta Eels.
  25. "Wigan Warriors sign versatile Parramatta Eels back". BBC.
  26. "Player profile". NSWRL.
  27. "Wigan Warriors fans get first glimpse of "electrifying" Bevan French". Wigan Today.
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