MORGAN Escare and Romain Navarrete will not be left tongue tied at Wigan – despite being bamboozled by ‘Wiganese’.
The French pair have linked up with the Warriors after coming through at Catalans Dragons.
But there is a language barrier to overcome – not the Queen’s English, which prop Navarrete can speak, but the unique way they speak in the Lancashire town.
Instead of ‘to the’ it is ‘for t’’, head is pronounced ‘yed’ and the rugby league favourite, ‘get them on side’ is ‘gerremonside’.
But Wigan coach Shaun Wane, himself a proud son of the town, is adamant the pair will not be silent on the pitch, with high hopes for full-back Escare.
He said, in standard English: “Romain is better than Morgan with the Wiganese.
“But Sam and Joel Tomkins, as well as all the other senior players, are looking after them and they’re both going to be having English lessons.
“I’m expecting great things from Morgan and he showed in spells at Catalans what he can do.
“Even though he can’t speak English, he does have rugby sense. When I speak to him on the training field, he gets what I’m talking about straight away.
“He’s a smart player but I’m very happy with them both, I thought the way Romain handled the internationals against some big teams, including England, was very good.
“He’ll be a real asset to us. Both of them have brought loads of enthusiasm and I’m sure they’ll be fans’ favourites.
“They’re both very intense and very keen to get better so they suit our environment.”
Wigan may have won the Grand Final in October but expect almost an entirely different side in 2017.
As well as Escare and Navarrete, Thomas Leuluai and Joe Burgess have returned from the NRL.
Matty Smith, Dan Sarginson, Lee Mossop, Dom Crosby and Josh Charnley have left, while a host of stars – including the Tomkins brothers, Michael McIlorum and Tony Clubb – missed much of 2016 with injuries.
But Wane said that while the faces in many of the shirts may be different, the Wigan way of playing will not change – if anything, it will be better.
He added: “We had that many injuries last year and with the new signings we’ve made, you’re talking as many as 12 players.
“It’s like making a lot of new signings, so we’re in a good place.
“Last year was very difficult to handle and if we were to replicate that, it wouldn’t work. We tweaked a few things in mid-season last year and it worked for us.
“We’ll be making that sort of stuff better over pre-season.”
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