‘Wasps to learn from mistakes’ – Dai Young
Wasps' director of Rugby Dai Young before the Aviva Premiership Semi Final at Allianz Park, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday May 19, 2018. See PA story RUGBYU Saracens. Photo credit should read: Paul Harding/PA Wire. RESTRICTIONS: Editorial use only. No commercial use.
Wasps will learn from the mistakes they made last season and are prepared to give all competitions their focus during the 2019/20 campaign.
That was the word from the Coventry-based outfit’s director of rugby, Dai Young, whose side won just 15 of 42 matches from all tournaments they participated in during the 2018/19 season.
“I made a mistake last season by not really giving the Premiership Cup and the Premiership Shield a bigger go,” Young told Coventry Live.
“The big thing last season was to preserve our players and look after them for the league and Europe.
“The Academy were more than happy to take over the Premiership Cup and the Premiership Shield, unfortunately I feel that just created a negative attitude and a negative impression outside of the club. Because we weren’t doing very well in the A League, we weren’t doing very well in the Premiership Cup, we were losing a couple of games in Europe.
“Looking after the players playing in the first team wasn’t really working. We adapted what we did with the A team towards the end of the season and put in some good performances.”
Wasps A also suffered five losses in their first six Premiership Shield fixtures but finished strongly in that tournament with four consecutive bonus-point victories as several senior players bolstered the squad.
That approach looks set to continue during the upcoming season as Wasps will try to make full use of their 48-man squad in the Premiership and European Challenge Cup as well as the Premiership Cup and the Premiership Shield.
“We tried something last year, it didn’t work, it didn’t work for the Academy players,” said Young.
“Although they were getting plenty of game time, it was negative really because they were losing and it didn’t do the first team any good. If you’re not playing first team this season and we haven’t got worries in the first team, you will be playing A team. The Premiership Cup will be a mixture of first team and Academy players.”
Whereas Young previously referred to the Premiership Cup as a ‘development tool’, where results were not of great importance, he said the club’s approach towards that competition would change during the upcoming season.
“Anybody who puts a Wasps jersey on this season will be going out to win,” he added.
“It won’t be like last year when we took those two competitions as development competitions. We weren’t too concerned if we won or lost, to be honest, it was more a case of playing to try and develop these players.
“Our focus will be this year to do as well as we can in all competitions.”