Dai Young is determined that Wasps should avoid a slip-up in their pursuit of the Aviva Premiership title when they travel to Newcastle Falcons on Friday night.
The Coventry-based club could replace Saracens at the top of the table if they prevail at Kingston Park, but Young refuses to view victory over the Falcons as a foregone conclusion.
“The Christmas period is always a busy one and we’ve had two tight turnarounds ahead of what will be a big challenge for us on Friday night,” the Wasps director of rugby said. “It’s a massive game for us. If you want to be achieving, then you have to be winning these kinds of games.
“It’s never easy to pick up away wins, especially somewhere like Newcastle, but you have to beat sides below you if you want to be in there at the end of the season.
“Newcastle have taken a few sides by surprise this season with their determination to play an expansive game of rugby, but we had sight of them early on in this campaign and have experienced first-hand just how dangerous they can be.
“Although we won that game at the Ricoh in October the scoreline flattered us, and if we let the Falcons dominate possession like they did that day, we will be in for a very tough evening.”
Wasps have rotated their squad, with the full-back Kurtley Beale and captain Joe Launchbury rested, and Kyle Eastmond starting at inside-centre.
Newcastle’s director of rugby, Dean Richards, is braced for a points-heavy match. “Wasps are no slouches and their try-count is huge each game this season. They score a lot of tries,” he said.
“Defensively, they leak a lot of points but at the same time their objective each game is to outscore the opposition and score as many points as they possibly can.
“They’re a good side packed with stars from all over the place. They’ll be a difficult nut to crack but having said that, we’re pretty confident in the way we’re playing at the moment. We’re playing good rugby and enjoying ourselves as well. We’re on the up, which is nice.”
Richards is looking to improve on Newcastle’s ninth place and feels his side deserve to be higher given this season’s performances. “We thought we could have got something out of last weekend’s game at Saracens and there were a couple of results earlier in the season we felt we could have got something out of as well,” Richards added.
“Another five, six points and we’d have felt a little bit more in tune with where we feel we are. But it’s not about what’s happened, it’s about what’s going to happen over the next six months. We’re on the up, we’re improving, we’re shaping up and playing some good rugby.”
