Young – ‘Piutau the complete package’

Wasps director of rugby Dai Young has revealed his desire to bring Ulster utility back Charles Piutua back to the Ricoh Arena.

Piutau enjoyed a successful 2015/2016 season in Coventry under Young’s tutelage. Whilst Young may have wanted him to stay on longer at the club, Piutau had already signed a deal to join Ulster for two seasons prior to his arrival at the Ricoh.

The first of those two seasons has seen Piutau now take the PRO12 by storm, winning the competition’s Players’ Player-of-the-season award.

And Young has admitted that he would ‘love’ to reunite with the 25-year-old who can play at full-back, wing or centre.

Piutau, referred to as the ‘complete package’ by the Wasps’ boss, has won 16 caps for the All Blacks and will be looking to add to that tally at the Japan 2019 Rugby World Cup.

“He’s got another year in Ulster, and the next World Cup was certainly his goal for after that when he left here,” Young told the Coventry Telegraph.

“I think wanting to go back to New Zealand for that is still his focus at the moment, but things can change and we would love to have him back here.

“We made that pretty clear to him when he left and we’ll certainly make that clear to him again from next season as well.

“His ability on the field is plain for anyone to see, but also his professionalism off the field was outstanding.

“He was a leader and he’s still a young man who is so valuable to a squad since he’s an international full-back, an international winger and an international centre.

“People doubted what impact he could make in a year and we and we all saw how important he was to the team.

“It’s no surprise to me that he’s gone over to Ulster and taken the Pro 12 by storm – he’s had the same effect there as he had with us.

“If you want somebody to show some fantastic footwork and can dance through the opposition then he can do that. If you need someone to run over them then he’s more than happy to roll his sleeves up, so he’s pretty much the complete package.

“On top of this, you’d have him for the whole season since New Zealand’s system means he wouldn’t get called away.

“So if he did decide he wanted to stay in this neck of the woods then we would certainly be one team that would be interested in giving him an option.”