OPPOSITION CORNER: Quenching the 'Burn-ing' desire of Rovers will be key (From Warrington Guardian)

OPPOSITION CORNER: Quenching the 'Burn-ing' desire of Rovers will be key

8:00am Saturday 2nd March 2013 in Wolves news By Mike Parsons

ALL eyes will be on Travis Burns on Sunday.

The stand off is set to make his Robins debut after sitting out the last four of a 12-match ban carried over from his ‘intentional high tackle charge’ with Penrith Panthers in the NRL last season.

Burns, a tenacious runner of the ball with a good kicking game, could be the answer to Craig Sandercock’s problems.

Rovers, with only one win so far from a injury-hit start to 2013, have tried several combinations in the half backs so far but the side could be buzzing with Burns and Michael Dobson finally pulling the strings together this weekend.

To have an impact, they will need their pack to be firing and they have lost the services of former Huddersfield forward Adam Walker to a one-match ban for fighting in the 80th minute of Sunday’s clash with Salford City Reds.

Rovers had the same problem against Salford as Wolves did at Craven Park last season.

Sitting pretty 34-14 ahead after 50 minutes at the Salford City Stadium, somehow they then managed to become the first team to lose to Phil Veivers’ outfit since last July.

Similarly, Warrington lost the plot when holding a 22-6 interval advantage in east Hull last June and succumbed to a disappointing 23-22 defeat.

Not only did that cost Wolves a sequence of eight wins for the first time in the Super League era, but it could be argued as the defeat that cost Tony Smith’s men the League Leaders’ Shield.

If success in sport is about learning from past mistakes, then switching to cruise control at the 50-minute mark on Sunday will be fresh enough in the Robins’ minds for it not to happen again on Wolves’ visit.

And the notoriously vociferous Robins fans, buoyed by their first glimpse of Burns in red and white, will not allow them to go off the boil.

Wolves may well need a strong start to keep the home crowd quiet. That would be a lesson learned from the trip to Humberside at the weekend, when Tony Smith felt his men were a little lethargic after the bus trip.