Warrington Wolves dealt Stefan Ratchford injury blow with approximate recovery timeframe given
Stefan Ratchford in action for Warrington Wolves
Warrington Wolves coach Sam Burgess says they will be without captain Stefan Ratchford for around two months after he underwent surgery on Monday.
Ratchford left the action towards the end of the first half in Warrington‘s 24-10 win at St Helens on Friday night following an innocuous-looking tackle from James Bell.
Burgess says Ratchford underwent surgery on Monday to repair his eye-socket and jaw, with the former England international facing a recovery time of approximately two months, meaning he could return in time for the play-offs.
“He had surgery yesterday (Monday) and he’s not brilliant,” Burgess said of Ratchford. “He’s on the road to recovery now and it’s part of the game, but it’s a really bad fracture – he had nine fractures in his face.
“It’s his eye-socket and jaw repaired so he’s in a bad way but he’s in good spirits. I’d say he’ll be close to eight weeks – with him having his jaw and his eye-socket done, the jaw takes a bit longer (to heal) so it will be close to that.”
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Burgess also provided a wider injury update ahead of Friday’s trip to Wigan, with the two sides meeting for the first time since the Challenge Cup final at Wembley last month: and it’s unlikely that key back-rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon will be back in time.
“We’ve not finalised it (the squad) yet as we’ve still got a couple of days to go,” Burgess added. “We’re hanging in there so whoever we can get back on board, we’ll see what we’ve got. We’ll know a bit more by Thursday.
“We’re getting closer to guys being back – Lachie Fitz probably won’t make it but others are getting closer.
“We’re getting to the time of year where everyone is busted in some way, so you’ve got to figure out the risk and reward with what’s right for them. We’re in that little space at the moment.”
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