Video: Cockiness downed Wasps last year admits Dai Young
Having seen his Wasps side finish third in last year’s Premiership table, Dai Young is conscious that there needs to be big improvements if the semi-finalists are to equal or better that achievement.
Young told RugbyPass, “Without beating around the bush, it wasn’t good enough last season. We conceded too many easy points really. We know we’re an attacking team and we know we want to score tries but at the end of the day, a try saved is just as good as a try scored.
“From our point of view, if we want to achieve something the defence has to improve. We believe last year, every area wasn’t where we wanted it to be, although we finished third and we lost to Saracens in the semi-final – nothing to be ashamed of there – I certainly don’t believe we played anything like we can right through the season.”
Acknowledging the areas that came in for criticism, Young explains that having reached the Premiership final in 2017, an element of complacency may have wormed its way into his players heads and that they were playing catch up ever since.
Young said, “The [Premiership] final, the year before last, subconsciously made us feel a little bit better than we were, to be quite honest with you. We came into the start of the season and lost four out of six which wasn’t the ideal start. That meant we had to have a real solid block in the middle which meant we overused players. I don’t think we rotated the squad enough throughout that middle part of the season because we were chasing our tail a little bit.”
By the start of the 2017/18 season, confidence was high but was perhaps a little misplaced. Young continues, “We didn’t feel it at the start of last season to be honest with you, but certainly we were over confident in our attack. We thought we’d always score tries, we’d always do well, but the early part of the season showed us that wasn’t the case. After four or five weeks we had to change a lot of things in attack.”
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Young has added Nottingham’s Ian Costello as his defence coach and promoted Andy Titterell to forwards coach. He explained how they are aiming to avoid the pitfalls of last season.
Young said, “We haven’t made the same mistake this season. We have tinkered with our attack to make sure we’re not as predictable as we were last season, so you learn from things like that. Set piece wise, we’ve spent a lot more time preseason that we probably did last season, on it. And defence has always been a work-on with us.”
Having dealt with rumours of player revolt over the club’s training facilities last season, RugbyPass asked Young what the latest developments are on that front. Young responded, “The management team has a group working on that. I believe they’ve identified a site for the new training facility and they’re working hard on that. What I’ve said to the players is let’s just get on with things. We’re not in a real bad place, things could be better but there’s no excuse really. There’s nothing that should hold us back on that front. I’ve got total trust in the off-field management team that they’re doing their damndest to try and get the training facility up and running as quick as possible. We know it’s not going to be this season, maybe next season, maybe the season after. All I want the players to focus on is the performances and what we can control and not look for excuses outside of that.”
As Wasps prepare to take on Worcester and Exeter Chiefs in the first two rounds of the Gallagher Premiership, Young sounds as motivated as ever to bring silverware to the club. He said, “I’m so desperate to win something for the support that we get, for Derek and the Directors and some of the players, Joe Launchbury, Elliot Daly and Joe Simpson who’ve stuck with us through thick and thin. I’ve got a real burning hunger and desire to try and get our hands on something sooner rather than later.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments