Dai Young – I like a scrum but just look at my Wasps fly!

As a proud tighthead prop, Dai Young will always have a soft spot for a pushover try – but the Wasps boss admits these days he enjoys watching Christian Wade dance around people just as much. Well almost.
Putting a prop in charge may not seem the obvious route to achieving an all-court game, but in Young, a former tighthead with 54 Wales caps, Wasps seem to have a visionary coach who understands the need for balance in his attack.
In his first game in charge, a pre-season match in Agen, he started loosehead Simon McIntyre are tighthead against All Black John Schwalger to let McIntyre see for himself the intricacies of the loosehead role at the scrum.
Fast forward four years and rarely a week goes by without one of Wasps’ long-range tries making the highlights of the Premiership or Champions Cup.
Last week a three-try first-half blitz helped them leave Franklin’s Gardens with a 24-11 win, with wing Josh Bassett finishing off the pick of the bunch after full-back Rob Miller had countered from a high ball.
Young’s enthusiasm for the audacious is clear and says his background playing Rugby League in the mid-Nineties is where his love for attacking rugby arose.
Young, the only player to have represented the Lions over three separate decades, exclusively told The Rugby Paper: “The set-piece is the bread and butter of the game and it has to be done well but having played six years of League I have a good understanding of attack and defence.
“I can’t help wanting to see the ball being thrown about and seeing the game played with a high-tempo. I want to score tries. I want to be excited watching Wasps play.
“I can’t get away from being excited when I see a pushover try from a scrum but you can’t help enjoying watching guys like Christian Wade, Elliot Daly, Charles Piutau or Joe Simpson get their hands on the ball.
“But you can’t have a team of racing snakes who are endurance athletes and can’t get you on the front foot and play the power game.
“You have to have the courage to keep playing the way we want because it can feel like an easier option to stop playing. The easiest way not to make mistakes is not to do anything. We don’t believe in elaborate moves or structures and we try to keep it as simple as possible.
“We spend a lot of time on skills improvement and I don’t mind seeing an offload going to the ground as long as it was the right decision. If it came down to poor execution but it was the right time to try it then we can work on that.”
When the 47-year-old took over from Tony Hanks in 2011 the two-time Heineken Cup winners were in disarray on and off the pitch.
If it had not been for a Tom Varndell tackle on Sam Vesty in Bath in the penultimate round of the 2012 season they would have been relegated.
But with Young in charge, and the arrival of owner Derek Richardson to sort the finances out, Wasps have been looking up and last season they finished sixth in the league to earn their place in Europe’s top competition.
Meeting Young at their historic training base in Acton, it is obvious he is the one running the show but he is no puppet master.
“I like to think I’m a leader,” he said. “But I’d be stupid not to canvas opinion from the other coaches or the players. You have to back yourself but you can’t be afraid to admit when you’re wrong. In coaching you can’t be better than everybody else.
“I’m pretty level-headed and I don’t get too excited when things are going well but at the same time I never get downed by things.
“I like to think I’m honest but you have to be constructive and fair rather than just hurtful in your analysis. Being respectful of everybody and being humble in your opinions are big things for me.”
Wasps are being tipped for success soon under Young, whose hands on approach often sees him scrum against his players in training, but the Welshman knows success must be more than short term.
He said: “Winning a trophy would be great but you have to be in the running to win things. Being constantly in the Top Six is the main thing. We’ve only done it once in eight years so to talk about winning things is a bit premature. When we get it right we’re a hard team to beat but we’re not the finished article.
“Look at how long Saracens and Northampton were in the Top Six before they won things. That doesn’t mean I’ll turn down a trophy along the way but I want people to consistently see us a Top Six side.
“We’ve only got 16 players who have been here for more than two years. In an ideal situation you only want four or five players going in and out every year or you basically start from scratch all the time. It’s paid dividends for a team like Exeter and that’s what we want.
“We’ve got two players coming in already in Tommy Taylor and Marty Moore so if we bring in two of three more that’ll probably be it for this season.”
Young started coaching in Cardiff where he was named head coach of the Blues a year after retiring in 2002. With Graham Henry, Steve Hansen and Scott Johnson in the Wales coaching set-up, Young didn’t have to look far for advice as a young coach.
The Test scene remains the coaching pinnacle and Young has said he’d fancy a “crack” but not until his Wasps work is done.
“Graham had a lot of influence on me as a player and we’ve kept in touch,” Young said. “I was his captain and I’ve also spent time with him coaching in Japan.
“I also spent a lot of time picking the brains of Steve and Scott in my early days. I’d like to give international coaching a crack but whether it’ll be in three years or five or six I don’t know.
“I’m contracted to Wasps for another three years and I’m in no rush to get away. I do enjoy working here and I do believe we’re going in the right direction.
“So I’d like to stay as long as I keep taking the club forward and as long as I’m wanted. I’d have no qualms signing a new deal if the club still want me in three years.”
NICK VERDIER