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Dai Young adopts more of a hands-on training ground brief at struggling Wasps
Dai Young is ready to get his hands dirty on the Wasps training ground after the club failed to convince high-profile coaches such as Shaun Edwards and Steve Borthwick to take up roles at the Premiership club.
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Wasps finished in eighth place last term, five points off the play-offs after just 10 wins in 22 outings, and with their coaching team still on the small side in terms of numbers, director of rugby Young is ready to give more of a dig-out in getting things right during the week.
The Coventry-based club have made some alterations, promoting Matt Everard and recruiting Martin Gleeson from rugby league to work alongside Lee Blackett (backs), Andy Titterrell (forwards) and Ian Costello (defence). But Young has admitted he will be busier than he has been in trying to better share the workload.
“I went on the record all of last season and probably the season before, we’ve got a small coaching group and where the game is at this moment in time, the game is getting tougher and tougher. Everyone is looking for the one per cents, those fine margins,” said Young to the Coventry Telegraph.
“I felt that we needed to at least supplement our coaching team to make sure that we keep up with everybody and keep on moving the game forward. It’s been well documented some of the people we went after and didn’t get them. That would have been in a different type of role, that type of people we looked at, head coach, senior coach type of material.
'The attack has always been our strongest part of the game, it's in our DNA, we want to score tries, score points. Last season our attack was our biggest drop off' https://t.co/r2FmYNL5sN
— Bobby Bridge (@bobby_bridge) July 23, 2019
“I am happy with the coaches we have got but it’s too big a job for just the three. Andy will continue with the forwards. Last season he did the scrum, lineout and the contact area. This year he is just doing the scrum and lineout and there is some parts of the lineout that I’m going to take over, take a bit of pressure off him there. Our drives were poor so I’m going to take over the drives pretty much. Not that I have got all the answers.
“Matt Everard is coming in and doing the transition with the youngsters but he is also going to work on the contact area. I didn’t want to give Matt too big a role because the important thing is he helps me get the academy boys into the first team. Again, that takes a bit of pressure off Andy.
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“Ian, who everyone wants to chuck stones at, if you look at the stats after Christmas, we were in the top four for a lot of defensive aspects. Before Christmas, we weren’t, but things take a lot of time to drip in. Both myself and the players felt that it was going in the right direction with our defence.
'It was really tough. My mental health was challenged, so it was awesome to come back and perform at the level I know I can'
– Wasps' Ashley Johnson tells @heagneyl how he battled through his six-month suspension ?? https://t.co/lnVzlfEIZv
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 31, 2019
“It’s well documented, it [Wasps’ defence] gets a slamming a lot of the time. We do believe, on the back of some of the foundations Ian put in last year, that our defence will improve this year.
“People keep telling me you need to get a defence coach, but nobody tells me who. I think we all recognise Shaun Edwards and Andy Farrell, but who outside of them would do a better job? I’m confident in Ian and the players are confident. That’s the main thing.
“The attack has always been our strongest part of the game. It’s in our DNA, we want to score tries, score points. Last season our attack was our biggest drop off. Our defence wasn’t as good as we would like it to be but it wasn’t a massive drop off from the year before whereas our attack was.
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See you soon. pic.twitter.com/ktHDki661U
— David Dai Young (@DaiYoungRugby) May 18, 2019
“I believe the attack is something that evolves every week, the defence doesn’t change too much. There’s little areas you can tweak but your attack has got to change every week. Lee has done an excellent job for us. We have been in the two or three for tries scored for the past couple of seasons, last season we hit a bit of a road block.
“The thinking behind Martin Gleeson is, for a long time now we have brought in rugby league coaches on the defence, but they score tries in rugby league as well. It was important to me to bring someone in who can support Lee.
“Lee can put structures in place and Martin can take about running lines, support lines, decision making and so on and support Lee so you have got a two-pronged attack. Also, it can help bring in new ideas to unlock defence. Lee is in charge of it, Martin is going to help Lee and help take our attack back to where it was before. We’ve got two extra coaches within the coaching group and hopefully take us back to where we were.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Yawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
13 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
22 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
13 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
77 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
13 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
13 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
13 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
13 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
13 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
44 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
2 Go to comments