The Test match last week gave a number of the Dragons players an extra week to recover from niggles. Prime among these is Clint Greenshields who missed his first Super League game in his time at the club two weeks ago. He'll be back, as will Olivier Elima, Dimitri Pelo and David Ferriol who all missed the Test and Jamal Fakir and Jason Ryles return to bolster the pack. Their replacements hung on manfully against Leeds, but let's not kid ourselves that the return of these biggest of guns is anything but a massive boost. Steve Bell looks set to continue on the wing where he's gone well, but there's no Greg Bird in the middle as he attends to a small legal matter back in Australia. That sees the old band back together - Thomas Bosc and Adam Mogg - at the creative hub with the veteran Jason Croker continuing in the centres. It was a long time prior to the Leeds game when Croker last played in the backs, let alone in the centre. He rolled the years back with a vintage display.
Two of Warrington's most dangerous players are out. There's no Lee Briers, so Thierry Alibert will largely be left to referee the game on his own without him and Bird. Mickey Higham is also absent. Without Test forwards Adrian Morley and Ben Westwood, Wire came unstuck against Bradford last week, but Tony Smith keeps faith with the entire seventeen bar the injured Briers. Morley and Westwood are added to the squad as is young Lee Mitchell. Wire started the season badly, but have picked up before that reverse to the Bulls on their own patch. They remain the stereotypical inconsistent Warrington outfit we all know and love from years gone by.
The curtain raiser to the game sees the newly formed Catalan national side take on the Czech Republic, kicking off at 16:30 local time ahead of the 19:00 kick off for the main event. There's stuff going on around Montjuic Park from 14:00 until midnight. The weather looks good for Saturday and Sunday, though a little damp for when your current correspondent flies out, so hopefully the good weather can tempt a few locals out.
