WARRINGTON Wolves have landed in Las Vegas – but they have done so without their head coach.
The squad touched down on American soil in the early hours of this morning UK time having flown out of London Heathrow Airport yesterday to spent the week in Vegas ahead of their historic Round Three clash with Wigan Warriors at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday.
For at least the early part of the week, however, they will prepare for the game without Sam Burgess, whose well-publicised visa issues were not resolved in time for him to board Sunday’s flight.
Burgess spent much of last week at the US Embassy in London attempting to resolve the issue and while that has not yet happened, it is understood the club and the NRL – the organisers of the Rugby League Las Vegas event – remain confident Burgess will be cleared to join the group in the coming days.
The first of Warrington’s two field training sessions planned for this week is on Tuesday and should Burgess not arrive in time, assistants Martin Gleeson and Richard Marshall are set to take charge.
It would not be the first time the duo have led preparations for a game in Burgess’ absence – they did so for a visit to Castleford Tigers last August when the Wire boss made a quick dash back to Australia to be inducted into the NRL Hall of Fame and only arrived back in the UK on the day of the game.
However, his absence and the reason for it is a big blow for both Warrington and the event itself, with Burgess among the star attractions as he returns to an NRL environment for the first time as a top-flight head coach.
After Friday’s 18-12 win over Catalans Dragons, Burgess was asked about the situation in his post-match press conference and while he cast doubt on whether he could join his players on Sunday’s flight as planned, he remained confident of being cleared to travel at some point.
“Everyone has been great down there and everyone at the Embassy has been fantastic, but these things take time,” he said on Friday.
"I respect the process and everyone's efforts to get it to this point, but it's essentially out of my control at the moment. We'll see what the next 24 hours brings.
"I think I'll get there. I’m confident I'll get there. A lot of work has gone on
"Everyone has been brilliant – the NRL have, Warrington have, the US Embassy have been fantastic. It's with the border control to get the last thing signed off.
“It's in the review process now and I've got a few messages to say it's going in the right direction.
“Whether I'm on the flight or not Sunday, I'm not sure.
“These things take time – there's time difference between dialogue between England, US and Australia.
“There's a lot of dialogue going on but while one is open, another is closed. Things take a day or two longer than they usually would.
“I'm pretty optimistic – there's been great support and everyone seems keen to get an outcome. Let's see how things go the next 24 or 48 hours."
