Blackburn 18

Warrington 28

BLACKBURN’S player-coach Tom Lavelle could make a welcome return to their front row at Northwich on Saturday.

Lavelle has had nearly a year out of the game following a health scare, but the former Lancashire and Fylde man could be on the verge of a comeback as Blackburn bid to kick-start their campaign.

“We’ve really missed Tom because he is a leader of men and it would be wonderful to see him back in a Blackburn shirt again,” said Dino Radice, Burn’s Head Coach.

“He has so much experience to offer and, hopefully, he will return very soon.”

Blackburn suffered a 28-18 home defeat to Warrington last weekend, their third loss in a tough sequence of opening games, and Radice conceded that Burn made too many mistakes.

He said: “I thought Warrington were very good, and I was very impressed by them - they did their job.

“They played to a game plan and were very clinical in what they did.

“When you come up against a team like that then you have to be on it from the first whistle to the last and we weren’t.”

Warrington led 15-3 at the break and added a third try soon after the restart then kicked a penalty to open up a 20-point gap.

Warrington led 15-3 at half time after the Cheshire side had forged ahead early on via a tenth minute try.

A series of penalties had helped them make it into the Blackburn 22, where from a lineout they released the backs and a training ground move saw them work the ball wide to score in the corner and the conversion was well kicked.

And it was no surprise when Warrington extended their lead via a penalty on the half hour and went further ahead when they added a second try on the stroke of half time.

The only consolation for ‘Burn was a penalty from the boot of Leon Fifield.

It was one-way traffic after the break too, Warrington scoring their third try shortly after half time - and then kicking a penalty to open up a twenty-point gap.

Finally, Blackburn sparked into life, Corey Logan feeding Josh Reilly who scored on the hour.

Burn’s cause was not helped when Marc Maher was sent to the sin bin and the visitors then added their fourth try.

Blackburn gave themselves brief hope when Ryan Wignall crashed over six minutes from time and although a Sean Hall try a couple of minutes later opened up the chance of a bonus point, Warrington were worthy winners.

It is not the start Blackburn would have wanted and Radice warned: “We’ve got to learn and learn quickly if we are to start winning matches.

“When we put phases together in games we look strong, but we’ve not done it nearly enough.”

Radice hopes to have Matthew Wilkinson, who has had spells in Super League with Salford Red Devils, Oldham and Halifax, in his squad this weekend after Wilkinson agreed a deal.