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.
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.
“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.
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
A Turtle has more pace and leg drive than Owen Franks, so it’s a good thing he only had to run 90 metres for that try.
2 Go to commentsOh Tamati Tua was in the vastly over-rated Leon MacDonalds Blues system? Well, no wonder he was wasted, much like Emoni Narawa and Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens under MacDonald. now look at them. Good thing Tua isn’t eligible, the Aussies latch on to any player who isn’t tied down.
2 Go to commentsMark Telea is a lot of things, but a defensive juggernaut has never been one of them. There will be far bigger tests in that regard for the youngster.
9 Go to commentsLove and respect to Fiji but not a chance outside of 7s
3 Go to commentsGood summation Ned. Agree the Canes were out-muscled for once (except at the scrum!) by a focused Brumbies outfit. Tua deserves consideration for higher honors after the way he humbled Jordie and the Canes defense. Thankfully, his lack of eligibility for Oz keeps him from Joe’s plans. While I also agree the injuries affected the Canes performance, some players seemed to lack focus and intensity for this match. Perhaps after the Blues demolished the Brumbies, they thought it was going to be easy? A good reminder that any slip up in preparation can have a big affect on the result. Brumbies deserved that win.
2 Go to commentsKarl Dixon should never have been appointed this fixture, absolute disgrace, He’s not much of a referee anyway, didn't have the balls to send his mate care off
5 Go to commentsBrilliant article! Harry of 8/9
1 Go to comments‘UK athletes' have been in the NFL from the start.
1 Go to commentsIt’s going to be Scott Barrett. He’s the coaches mate and captain of a previously elite team. Ardie a great option but scooter has worked with the coach and Ardie still as big a leader as needed.
23 Go to commentsI commend Colin Scotts bio All Balls. He was the first Aussie to make it to NFL. But he was poached and did a full apprenticeship at the University of Hawaii. He was 130kgs surfed played 1st grade cricket etc. big guy by normal but not NFL standards and a top athlete. Even then the nfl were picking up Tongans and Samoans for their natural size and explosive power. They want explosive power not cardio from the big boys so a guy like Taniela Tupou would have been good if picked up young enough. He has fast twitch and they’d bulk the little lad up and give him something to do. soccer teams set up academies and look for Over Sara’s talent eg Messi was at Barcelona since a teenager and harry kewell went to Leeds as a teenager like 16 or something.
11 Go to commentsThe article alludes to the fact that this isn’t about picking a captain. But picking a great captain. So who would make for a great All Black captain - not just an obvious or safe shoo-in? I’m not sure Ardie’s the guy and Barret doesn’t stand out either.
23 Go to commentsI guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
45 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
5 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
45 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
45 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
5 Go to comments