Cai Taylor-Wray will play his first game for Warrington Wolves since April with his return against York Knights confirmed by head coach Sam Burgess, who offered a comprehensive injury update.
Taylor-Wray, who last played in round nine, has been named to the 21-man squad for the past two weeks but not featured. After being named to the 21-man squad for Saturday’s game against Castleford Tigers, Burgess has given the full-back the green light.
“He’ll play this week. He’s back in the team this week,” Burgess said in his pre-match media, shared by BBC Radio Merseyside.
It’s taken 14 weeks for me to say that, but yeah, he’ll play this week. It’ll be good to see him back.”
As for expectations, Burgess admitted: “Again, he’s been out of the team for a while and he’s not played, so we’re not expecting him to be perfect, but we’re expecting him to build his game now. There’s enough time to get himself back in that position he was at the start of the year and he deserves to have a run at it.
“It’s been a tough road for him. Frustrating, so we’re grateful to see him back… He got himself in a good position, had a good year, and then picked up a few niggles. This one’s just taken a long time to recover, which has been frustrating.”
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Warrington Wolves captain George Williams nears return
A player who has had an even longer recovery and still is not back playing is George Williams with the playmaker having undergone surgery on his neck, something that could have ruled him out for the season.
However, Wire have now shared an image of Williams back in training and Burgess confirmed that an update could come very soon.
“I’ve seen him out training then and he looks sharp as,” the Wire boss said.
“He’s just got to get the green light from the surgeons ad the consultants, I think that’s either today or tomorrow and then we’ll start grading him up.”
That will be a massive boost for the Wolves, who have not had Williams available since round eight when he scored a try in the loss to Catalans Dragons.
Another positive injury update from Burgess saw him confirmed that second-rower Kelepi Tanginoa, who pulled out in the warm-up last week and dropped out of the 21-man squad this week, shouldn’t be a long-term loss.
Burgess said: “Kelepi’s okay. He’s had a grumbly knee for a little while now and it probably just got too inflamed.
“He’s got a further appointment tomorrow. We probably might see him next week. It’s something now, considering there’s only eight or nine weeks left to the end of the season. It’s something we’re capable of managing and they’ll probably take care of it in the off-season.”
Burgess admitted: “He probably could play at a push. He did all the training last week, completed every session. So, then just a bit of a flare-up and warm-up, and he didn’t want to let the team down so I appreciated his honesty.”
He added that the club will now map out the final run-in to best utilise the second-rower, who scored four in the home fixture against Saturday’s opponents Castleford.
Great to see you back out there, George 🫡 pic.twitter.com/S7RPVO5M9y
— Warrington Wolves (@WarringtonRLFC) July 30, 2026
