Wasps: We can’t keep playing it like Keegan
WASPS will face Leinster in Dublin on Saturday armed with X-factor firepower.
But they will also bring a renewed desire to avoid becoming the neutrals’ favourite flawed entertainers — rugby’s equivalent of Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle United team of the 1990s.
Last weekend, the Aviva Premiership leaders claimed a home league win over Worcester which laid bare the traits they wish to eradicate. Dai Young’s men scored six tries, but switched off to allow the visitors five of their own. The final score was 40-33.
All good fun, but not the way they want to carry on, especially against dangerous Irish opposition in the quarter- finals of the Champions Cup.
As director of rugby, Young has challenged his men to show greater consistency, resilience and commitment, to go with the gamebreaking class epitomised by the likes of Danny Cipriani, Christian Wade, Kurtley Beale and Willie le Roux.
Young said: ‘ These are all big games now, so we are not going to just win these games with five minutes of brilliance.
‘Contrary to people’s thoughts, we certainly don’t advocate the Kevin Keegan approach, where we are happy if they score one because we will score two. We don’t want a 6-5 in Dublin. I said on the weekend we don’t want a 30-40, but that’s what we had!
‘It is something they (Wasps players) have got to answer. Anyone can see the points we have given up in some of our games and you wouldn’t have to be a brain surgeon to work out perhaps they are not quite on the edge in these games. But when the big games have come we have been there.
‘ We need that real intensity, physicality and attitude to roll those sleeves up and put our heads where it hurts. We have done it on occasions. From here on in, every game is going to matter. We can’t just turn it on when we want to.
‘We have to demonstrate in every game that we have the belly for the fight. We have the quality, but quality won’t win us these games coming up.’
Young knows that his Wasps pack must match Leinster’s primal intensity to allow the visiting backs sufficient opportunities to wreak havoc.
If there is a solid platform, he knows his side can be as creative and deadly as any in Europe.
‘We’ve got plenty of X-factor,’ he said. ‘You look across our team, with hopefully Willie (le Roux) fit, Christian (Wade) has looked really sharp, your Kurtley Beales, Jimmy Gopperths, Danny Ciprianis. We need these guys to step up and play like we all know they can.
‘This is where your top players stand up. Christian has been one of our top players for a long time and we can always rely on him to do something special. But this is the stage you pay that extra bit of money for. It is why you buy your Beales, your Ciprianis and so on.’
Wasps expect Le Roux to come through all the concussion protocols in time to start against Leinster, while Young is also ‘pretty confident’ that England flanker James Haskell will recover from a dead leg and back spasm to be available for selection.