WARRINGTON Wolves' already-depleted outside-back stocks suffered a fresh blow during their victory at St Helens.

The Wire's backs-to-the-wall victory did not come without a cost, with skipper Stefan Ratchford taken off before half-time with a nasty-looking facial injury.

It was confirmed that the veteran, who was celebrating his 36th birthday on the night, had failed an in-game head injury assessment, automatically ruling him out of next week's trip to Wigan Warriors.

However, head coach Sam Burgess confirmed his absence will go much further than that having suffered a facial fracture which will require surgery.

With Toby King (hamstring), Josh Thewlis (shoulder) and Connor Wrench (ACL) already injured, the news comes as a fresh blow to Warrington's numbers.

"We lost Stef with a really bad facial fracture before the half and it really wasn’t good to see that at half-time," Burgess said, admitting the injury had something of a galvanising effect on his players.

"The boys got together and rallied around it a bit – they made a bit of a pact that they were going to get the job done for Stef.

"That was a nice moment and they delivered on their word. They’ll enjoy that.

"He’ll have surgery and it doesn’t look great. He’ll go for surgery on his face as it looks pretty bad."