The 29-year-old stand-off ended up being saluted by his Wigan coach Matt Peet after he was instrumental in the Warriors moving back up to second in the table as they crushed Wakefield 44-2.
The world champions are bidding to win the League Leaders' Shield for a third straight year but their hopes have faded after four defeats in their last eight matches, which coincided with French, arguably the premier player in the league, being absent for seven of those with a calf injury.
But he was back showing glimpses of his exceptional best again on Sunday as he earned his landmark score and was at the heart of three others as Wigan enjoyed a victory that takes them back above St Helens, and just four points behind the Willie Peters-coached leaders Hull KR.
"Bevan French is magic!" sang the fans at Wigan's Brick Community Stadium to mark the return of their hero, and he repaid them by not only bringing his usual creative spark but also making one brilliant recovery tackle to stop what looked a certain try when Wigan were down to 12 following a sin-binning.
"Getting Bevan back, there's no shying away from him improving us and giving us more balance," Peet said. "He was excellent, he probably exceeded my expectations.
"We look more of a threat with our running, passing and kicking wen he's in the side."
So important is the 2023 'Man of Steel' to Wigan's hopes that Peet brought French off for the final quarter-of-an-hour.
"Taking him off just seemed like common sense with him not playing for a while. He played 60-odd minutes - quit while you're ahead," said Peet.
He hadn't been in action since June 20, when Wigan went down 16-10 at Wakefield, but French conjured up a bit of his familiar magic early on when he chased his own grubber kick and got a little lucky when the ball bounced off a post and back into his hands for his milestone try .
The even better news for Wigan was that French's fellow Parramatta old boy, fullback Jai Field, his partner in creative mayhem, also went over for his 19th league try of the season.
Elsewhere in the Super League, Warrington coach Sam Burgess said he must question himself after a 23-10 defeat at Huddersfield all but dashed his side's play-off hopes.
Burgess, the South Sydney great who's made a tremendous fist of his first role as head coach, said his side "may as well have stayed in the changing room".
"We've got to ask a few questions of ourselves and I'll be doing the same with myself because it just wasn't good enough," he said.
