Wasps confident of signing quality prop as Sharks get Jake
WASPS director of rugby Dai Young is ‘confident’ he will find a quality replacement for Sale Sharks-bound tighthead prop Jake Cooper-Woolley.
The 29-year-old will end his six-year stay with the Black and Golds this summer after agreeing to join Steve Diamond’s side at the end of the 2018/19 season.
“We’ve known that Jake is going for a while,” said Young. “So we’ve been looking hard for that, bring in someone to lessen the blow of losing Jake.
“That’s what happens. I said the same last year and I’ll say it again, we didn’t lose any players when we moved here from London.
“It was always going to be a case of this squad at some point going through a transition. We’ve had guys from when they were 23 and now Jake’s 29 he has a different outlook on life.
“It’s probably his last contract, no one signs for a pay cut and there’s life decisions to make as well, where do you want to live when you finish playing rugby. These are the things that will come in with some of them.
“I always felt that these guys have been with us for five or six years, we’d lose a few of them just because of the natural evolution of the squad and Jake’s one of them.
“But when players go we have to bring new ones in and we’re confident that we’ll bring someone in who will keep us moving in the right direction.”
Cooper-Woolley, who is currently starting at tighthead with Kieran Brookes out injured and Will Stuart among the replacements, was plucked from Welsh Premiership rugby to join Wasps in 2013.
Young added: “He’s a success story for us. We picked him up from tier 2 rugby in Wales I watched him play for Cardiff University, Cardiff RFC and I was pretty confident he could make the step up to the next level.
“When I came to Wasps, realised he was English as well which was a big attraction, he was a big powerful guy but he hadn’t really played at this level. He’s been good for us but we’ve been good for him.”