Warrington Wolves forward duo count cost of Catalans Dragons defeat

Warrington Wolves props Zane Musgrove and Joe Philbin both failed HIA’s during their Rivals Round defeat to Catalans Dragons, and will now be ruled out of next week’s game against Leeds Rhinos.

Matty Nicholson was a late call-up into the matchday squad by Wire boss Sam Burgess, replacing captain Stefan Ratchford as the 18th man.

And after Musgrove & Philbin both failed their assessments, as per the change to the rulebook in the off-season, Nicholson was called into action.

Last season, when three failed HIA’s were needed for the 18th man to come into play, Nicholson would have remained unavailable to his side.

Warrington Wolves forward duo count cost of Catalans Dragons defeat

Off-season NRL recruit Musgrove – who had scored Warrington’s first try of the contest a few minutes earlier – was the first of the pair to leave the field just before the end of the first half.

Philbin then followed circa 10 minutes after the restart, appearing worse for wear as he walked off to be replaced by Ben Currie.

Neither returned to the action, with Warrington eventually losing a thrilling contest 32-24, Jordan Abdull powering over in virtually the last action of the game to seal the victory for Steve McNamara’s side.

It’s just the second defeat of the season for the Wolves, and both have come against the same opponents with the Dragons also getting the better of them over in Perpignan last month in Round 1.

Post-match, Wire chief Burgess confirmed that both Musgrove & Philbin had failed HIA’s, which rules them out of next Friday’s trip to Headingley.

It’s not just those two props who they could be without either. They’ll have to wait on the Match Review Panel’s verdict to see whether Paul Vaughan will be absent.

The ex-Australia & Italy international was sent to the sin-bin 11 minutes into the Rivals Round clash at the Halliwell Jones Stadium after a high shot on Catalans’ Cesar Rouge.