Dai relieved to have his midfield back

DAI Young will finally be handed the kind of midfield selection poser he regularly faced last season during the forthcoming Premiership clashes with Newcastle, London Irish and Leicester.

Twelve months ago, the requirement to shuffle the pieces so some combination of Jimmy Gopperth, Danny Cipriani, Kurtley Beale, Elliot Daly, Kyle Eastmond, Brendan Macken and Alapati Leuia were used to best effect was a near weekly challenge.

However, Wasps’ injury plague has given their boss a very different problem in the current campaign, which means picking three players from five or six is a nearforgotten luxury.

This happy situation has been brought about by an Anglo-Welsh Cup fortnight during which Gaby Lovobalavu and Eastmond have recovered fitness, Juan de Jongh and Macken have retained it, and Gopperth has worked on his golf swing.

On the debit side, winger Marcus Watson is still nursing an Achilles injury, which is described as “reactive” rather than strained.

An upwardly-mobile Newcastle side who have hugely impressed Young this season.

“It’s a massive game for us against Newcastle – they’re a real quality team,” he said.

“They haven’t been far off the past couple of seasons, and they’ve recruited well. They’ve got some quality, experienced players and a lot of internationals in their team.

“They’ve threatened to break into the top six in the last couple of seasons, and I think they’ll feel this is their year.”