After Wasps' second successive win, director of rugby Dai Young has warned his players to keep their feet on the ground.
New director of rugby warns Wasps to keep their feet on the ground
Wasps' new director of rugby Dai Young has warned his players to keep their feet on the ground after they recorded a second straight Aviva Premiership victory on Sunday, beating Leicester 35-29.
Young said he was "over the moon" with the win over reigning champions Saracens and now their predecessors in the season's opening two games. But he also said that both outcomes might have been very different.
"You have to be realistic. Nobody goes into a game thinking anything other than why you can win. But you do feel good about winning games likes the ones we've won," Young said.
"You can be over the moon as long as you accept that both were also games we could have lost. I am aware of that and so are the squad. Last season's stats show that Wasps had the worst lineout and the worst scrum which is why they finished ninth.
"So we are a work in progress, working to improve."
Young singled out young wing Christian Wade for special praise after the former academy player scored a hat-trick of tries in only his sixth first-team game.
Rare commodity
He added: "Christian is a rare commodity in the game. Give him the ball and people shift to the edge of their seats in anticipation. Considering his age, that is very impressive.
"But he is very new to this level and we'll make sure he is brought along at a sensible pace."
Leicester rugby director Richard Cockerill remained upbeat despite the Tigers opening their season with a second successive defeat and hailed Billy Twelvetrees, who scored all their points on Sunday.
Cockerill said: "It was a good game. I'm pleased with the lads because there's losing and then there's losing after playing well.
"Had we been a bit smarter near the end, used lineouts to our advantage, we could have come away winners, but the lads put in a lot of good work.
"We are disappointed because we needed to be a bit more composed on the ball.
"They tell me this is the first time we have lost the first two games of a Premiership season, so I guess I'm setting records of some kind. But if we continue showing this work ethic the wins will come.
"We all know that Billy is a quality player and he did ever so well to step up at the end and kick that goal to make sure we went home with at least a point. We deserved the point, but were punished for making too many errors."
Wade also earned Cockerill's praise for his eye-catching display.
He added: "Wade certainly has pace, and tries don't come much better than his second against us. I want England to pick him now, immediately, whisk him down to New Zealand - so we don't have to face him again."
