Warrington Wolves injury update ahead of St. Helens match

And head coach Sam Burgess has confirmed the path he will take to compensate for Paul Vaughan's forced absence from the team: Zane Musgrove is set to replace him in the starting front row.

Vaughan will miss the final three games of the regular season following his sending off in Friday's loss to Leigh Leopards after The Wire's appeal against the Grade D head contact sent off was dismissed by the Operational Rules Tribunal on Tuesday night.

Burgess confirmed that James Harrison, who has started most of this year alongside Vaughan in the front row, is not yet ready to return after the lower leg injury that kept him out of action in the loss to Leigh.

So it will be Musgrove who fills the gap left by Vaughan in the starting lineup. It would be only his third start this year, having started on the bench in 22 of his 24 appearances.

“Jimmy will not play this week – he is not quite in shape yet,” Burgess said at his weekly press conference.

“There are players like Max Wood and Matty Nicholson who are ready to come in.

“I've lost my two regular players in the front row, which isn't ideal, but we're just going to carry on like we've done all year.

“We'll try to get Zane a starting spot this week and give guys like Philbo (Joe Philbin) and (Jordy) Crowther some more time. Those guys are ready to go.”

Zane Musgrove has only started two games this year (Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com)

Nicholson was missing from the team that lost 12-16 to the Leopards. Burgess confirmed that this was not an injury concern but a selection decision, as he wanted to see how John Bateman and the returning Lachlan Fitzgibbon fared in the back row.

The England international, who is moving to the Canberra Raiders, will return to the Wire team for the game against the Saints and Burgess stressed that he is in his best team.

“He hasn't had an injury. He's played a lot of minutes for me all year and I've had to see Bateman and Fitzy in the back row,” said the Wire boss.

“Nicho will be playing again this week – he's in my top 17 so far, but I just don't know where. We're still working on it, but we're making progress.”

“Last week was probably the hardest time for me to select this team, but we are in a good position now.

“Overall, we're all doing pretty well as it is, apart from Vaughany.”

Matty Nicholson will return to the team on Saturday (Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com)