Dai Young previews London Wasps vs London Irish

Posted on Mar 2, 2012 in English Rugby, London Wasps, Premiership

London Wasps Director of Rugby Dai Young previews this weekend’s game against London Irish at Adams Park (Saturday, 15.00).

With his side desperate for Aviva Premiership points, Young’s cause was not helped this week with the news that stand-in skipper Marco Wentzel and experienced centre Riki Flutey are both likely to be out for the rest of the season. It’s the latest in a long line of injuries at the Club this year but Young says he won’t be dwelling on the team’s bad luck.

“Clearly we have been seriously affected by a huge number of injuries and it is quite unprecedented when you start adding up the number of surgeries the squad has had to contend with alone. We have examined extremely carefully every single aspect of our training to make sure that there are no contributing factors in that respect but the simple fact is that the majority of our injuries are impact injuries in games and you just have to sometimes put that down to cruel luck. I am not one to sit down to dwell on that kind of luck, we’ve got to just work as hard as we can with the players who are fit and keep improving to get the points we all desperately want.”

Young is expecting a huge challenge from local rivals London Irish.

“I was very impressed with London Irish last weekend despite their loss. They have some excellent power runners who can break tackles and make your defence work incredibly hard so we can afford few slip-ups.”

In a week where experienced campaigners Hugo Southwell and Tim Payne signed contract extensions at the Club, Young was also full of praise of his current squad.

“I am proud of what I am getting from the lads who are fit and out there working hard day in day out. We are not where we are in the league from lack of desire or effort and we have got to keep working hard to turn the results around. We have six league games left and we are targeting six wins. If you don’t do that you may as well throw in the towel and we certainly won’t be doing that.”

Young also heaped praise on the London Wasps supporters, who he says have been outstanding in his first year with the squad.

“I genuinely am hugely impressed with the Wasps fans. I know how easy it would be not get that support in a season which has been disappointing results wise and it is credit to the intelligence of our supporters that they understand some of the reasons behind this and stay with us. I hope we can get them a reward on Saturday.”

Young’s take on upcoming challenges at London Wasps

Posted on Feb 21, 2012 in London Wasps, Premiership

London Wasps Director of Rugby Dai Young gives his view on the upcoming challenge against Sale and his team’s overall performances in recent weeks.
Speaking after back to back narrow losses against top five sides Saracens and Exeter, Young says every remaining game is now massive.

“In both of the most recent games we had more than enough opportunities to win, and to lose by less than six points in both cases is massively frustrating. We have had some issues with some refereeing decisions but we need to be honest with ourselves and put our hands up and realise that, particularly last weekend, we should have won in our own right. In tight games referees can have an influence but we need to make sure we are not in tight games so that if there are what we think are tough calls it doesn’t affect the result.”

One real plus from last weekend for Young was the impact of the Wasps bench in the second half, particularly the return of rising star Joe Launchbury.

“It is fair to say we haven’t had that type of quality on the bench throughout the season so that was pleasing. It is a 23 man game but due to injuries and so on we haven’t been able to put out 23 recognised Premiership or international performers week in week out. We have been on the receiving end of that this year at times. We have been in a game for 60 minutes and teams have brought top quality internationals off the bench and taken it away from us. I thought our bench really did add something at the weekend and we are getting near to having a much stronger 23 player match day squad than we have had all year.”

While inevitably results of the teams in and around Wasps, who sit 11th, are being followed closely, Young said his concerns are only with what his team can control.

“Look I have no doubt that Newcastle will win a few more games but it is up to us to control what we can control. We are six points in front of them but just four behind Worcester. We can still catch teams in front of us if we can turn the narrow losses into wins. I genuinely believe after the last two performances, if we can just improve another 10-15% that win is not far away from us.”

This week Young said he has focused the players on the positives from recent games.

“It is my job to keep the belief and confidence among the players and the coaches have pointed out to the players that, yes there are things we need to improve on, but there are also positives. We are creating good scoring opportunities but what we need is to turn those chances from being a yard short of the line to being a yard over it. We simply need to be more clinical. Over the last two games we were the side who looked more likely to score tries but the difference at the moment is that we aren’t finishing them off. If we were not creating chances I would be a lot more worried.”

On this Friday night’s game against Sale, Young added that the host side would pose a massive threat.

“Sale have spent a lot of money this year and brought in real quality and with Steve at the helm he has driven it through well. They were one of the teams this year who I felt totally outplayed us so we know how good they are. Going up there on a Friday night isn’t the easiest trip but every game is massive for us now and if we are to get those wins we need we will have to win in some tough venues.”

London Wasps sign Heinz Koll

Posted on Jan 16, 2012 in English Rugby, London Wasps, Premiership

London Wasps have added to their second-row options by signing Namibian lock Heinz Koll until the end of the season.

Koll joins Wasps, linking up with fellow countryman Tinus Du Plessis, following their recent World Cup campaign, during which Koll started all four games for his country, and impressed with his physicality and strong ball carrying, which was epitomised by a 40 metre break and try in his country’s pool stage game against Wales.

The imposing 28 year old second-row will add to the options in the second row which have recently been shortened due to injury. He will not be available for selection in the club’s Amlin Challenge Cup games but will be available for both the LV=Cup and Aviva Premiership.

London Wasps Director of Rugby Dai Young said: “Heinz will bring with him a great amount of physicality which I was impressed with during his time at the World Cup. It is public knowledge that we have been hit hard by injuries so his arrival will add to our currently limited options in the second row.”

Koll said: “The Premiership is obviously one of the best league’s in the World and I am delighted to get the chance to join Wasps. I am really looking forward to getting involved and hopefully my arrival can really add something to the squad.”

Thompson to make his Wasps debut

Posted on Oct 27, 2011 in English Rugby, London Wasps, Premiership, Worcester Warriors

England hooker Steve Thompson will make his debut for London Wasps this weekend having been handed the number two shirt for Friday night’s trip to Worcester in the Aviva Premiership.

Thompson, who featured strongly for England at the World Cup, is one of eight changes Director of Rugby Dai Young has made to this weekend’s team, as his side look to continue with winning ways in the Premiership having defeated Bath in the last round.

Also back in the starting line-up are Joe Simpson, who makes his first start of the season, Riki Flutey, who returns after a four-game injury absence, Nick Robinson, Ben Broster, Tim Payne, Jonathan Poff and Richard Birkett.

Just one player – Ross Filipo – also started against Worcester at Sixways two weekends ago in the LV=Cup.

Thompson said he was looking forward to representing the club for the first time. “I can’t wait to get out there and am delighted to get my first start because there is a lot of competition here for the number two shirt. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my first few weeks with the club and I feel fresh and ready for action.”

Dai Young added: “We know that Worcester are very strong at home and away wins are always difficult, but if we want to do well in this league we have got to start picking up results on the road.”

London Wasps team to play Worcester.

15 Hugo Southwell
14 Tom Varndell
13 Chris Bell
12 Riki Flutey
11 Christian Wade
10 Nick Robinson
9 Joe Simpson
1 Tim Payne
2 Steve Thompson
3 Ben Broster
4 Ross Filipo
5 Marco Wentzel
6 Richard Birkett
7 Jonathan Poff
8 John Hart (c)

Replacements

16 Rob Webber
17 Zak Taulafo
18 Jeremy Castex
19 Joe Burton
20 Matt Everard
21 Nic Berry
22 Ryan Davis
23 Chris Mayor

Perry starts for Warriors against Wasps

Posted on Oct 27, 2011 in English Rugby, Premiership, Worcester Warriors

Scrum half Shaun Perry is recalled to the starting line-up as Worcester Warriors face London Wasps in the Aviva Premiership at Sixways Stadium on Friday night (kick-off 7.45pm).

Former England man Perry has made a stunning recovery from a feared knee injury and will now line-up against Wasps as Warriors make just one change to the side that lost to London Irish in the club’s last league outing.

Head Coach Richard Hill makes a number of changes on the bench as hooker Aleki Lutui returns after World Cup duty with Tonga and prop George Porter replaces Ceri Jones, who is ruled out with a shoulder injury.

Flanker Sam Betty is rewarded for his strong performances in the LV= Cup with a place among the replacements while there is also a call-up for versatile back Chris Pennell.

“We have put in some very good performances at Sixways and with another big crowd on Friday night and great atmosphere the lads are revved up for the game,” said Hill.

“We were hurt by the last time we played in the Aviva Premiership away to London Irish. We had a poor defensive day with Phil Larder away. He has been in since then and read the riot act so I am certain we will get the right response.

“We expect Wasps to come full strength and they will keep the ball in hand and look to put pressure on us. They are one of the best teams at retaining the ball in the Aviva Premiership and the best at offloading in the tackle.

“Our three quarters will need a strong defensive game as Wasps will test us out in the wide areas, but I am confident in our defence.”

Tickets remain on sale for the game with London Wasps. Call the Warriors Box Office on 01905 454183 or click on www.warriors.co.uk to buy online.

Warriors vs. London Wasps

15 Errie Claassens
14 Marcel Garvey
13 Alex Grove
12 Dale Rasmussen (c)
11 Miles Benjamin
10 Andy Goode
9 Shaun Perry
1 Matt Mullan
2 Ed Shervington
3 Tevita Taumoepeau
4 James Percival
5 Craig Gillies
6 Neil Best
7 Jake Abbott
8 Chris Jones
Replacements
16 George Porter
17 Aleki Lutui
18 Oliver Tomaszczyk
19 Adam Balding
20 Sam Betty
21 Ollie Frost
22 Joe Carlisle
23 Chris Pennell