STEFAN Ratchford will return at full back for Warrington Wolves on Sunday, if passed fit.

Wolves’ head of coaching and rugby Tony Smith hopes the former Salford man will recover in time for the clash with Hull KR at The Halliwell Jones Stadium, kick off 3pm.

Ratchford injured his shoulder during the first minute of Wolves’ win at Hull FC in Round Two, with Kevin Penny the man tasked with filling the full back berth since.

That could see Smith juggle his backline, having seen Matty Russell start on the wing against Catalans at the weekend and Rhys Evans now set to undergo a shoulder operation.

“Hopefully Stefan’s back this week, so we could be back on the positives,” said Smith. “He’ll come back into the team at full back and we’ll work out where we go from there.

“Rhys is out for three months with a shoulder operation. It’s a blow for Rhys because he’s had a really strong start to the season.”

Richie Myler is set for a month on the sidelines after a sportsman’s hernia operation on Friday, but Anthony England will not need surgery on his elbow and could return within six weeks.

Wolves were 40-0 winners when Hull KR visited in pre-season, but they travel to Warrington on the back of a 22-20 triumph over Wigan Warriors.

And Smith expects a very different challenge to the one posed in January.

“Most definitely,” he said. “They’ve had a huge turnover in staff, playing staff and coaching staff as well. It was always going to take them some time to gel and they did at the weekend.

“They’ve been scoring some good points. It’s just some of their defence that has been tested and probably hasn’t been to the standard they would have liked.

“They’re a different team now, their combinations are much better and they knocked off one of the big boys in the comp last week – they’re of course going to be full of confidence.”

But Wolves’ focus this week is on learning from defeat in Perpignan.

“For us, we’ll have a look at where their strengths and weaknesses are and analyse that,” added Smith.

“But a lot of it is about us getting our standards back for this rather than worrying about how Hull KR are feeling.

“It’s how we deal with our performance, lack of performance, or the negative parts of our performance last week that is crucial for us.”

No Wolves players will feature for partner club North Wales Crusaders this week due to their Challenge Cup clash with Widnes West Bank.