Dai: No doubting Thomas merits Wales selection
WASPS boss Dai Young believes son Thomas ‘thoroughly deserved’ his international recall to the Wales Six Nations squad.
The 26-year-old flanker was named in Wales head coach Warren Gatland’s 39-man squad for the competition which kicks off on Friday, February 1 with France hosting Wales.
“I’m really pleased for Thomas I think he thoroughly deserves it,” said Dai, a 51-times capped Wales international. “He’s got an opportunity to impress in training and try and get out there on the field now.
“I’ll be very much the same for when the England squad is announced and hopefully we will get as many players as possible in that. That’s part and parcel of my job is to try and do well for Wasps but try and produce players for the national team, especially the England team, obviously.”
Thomas earned two international caps in the summer of 2017 but his subsequent omissions from international squads was a source of frustration for Dai given his son’s stand-out form for Wasps in recent years. Young senior revealed how he received the news.
“He’d seen it before me, I got an email on my way down to say he was in the squad and he gave me the tip off that he was in,” said Dai.
“I think my phone is about ten minutes behind everyone else’s but typical Thomas he just got on with his normal day.
“Ironically he picked up a shoulder injury last week. He won’t train early part of this week, that’s why we took him off [against Bath].
“But he’s played a lot of rugby in fairness to him. He said his toes weren’t aching but everything else was.
“Hopefully he’ll recover from that shoulder knock and be fine for this week.”
Following Thomas’s non-selection for the Autumn internationals, Dai told the Telegraph: “It seems it will always be anybody bar him”.
Speaking after his son’s recall, Dai added that Thomas’s approach hasn’t changed despite the disappointments. He said: “I can feel that but I don’t think Thomas has been fazed at all by it. He’s got on with the job and if he gets in great, if he doesn’t he’ll be disappointed.
“Selection is always out of a player’s hands. All coaches see different things in different players. Everyone has a different gameplan, which some players suit.
“Last time I felt he should have been in but he wasn’t, it’s not my call. Hopefully he can impress in training and get on the field and if he gets on the field then he can do the job there.
“Perhaps the hardest part is getting in the squad, now it’s up to him to impress in training.”