Match Reaction: Dai Young post Saints

Dai Young was really happy with the performance, after a team featuring nine changes got a memorable win at Franklin’s Gardens.

Dai was happy with how the squad's depth helped Wasps pick up the crucial win.

“Some of those guys haven't had as much rugby as they would like, but I've said all season that you are only as good as your squad. It is important that when those boys get a chance they stand up and take it and they certainly did tonight. I thought they were excellent from the word go and we thoroughly deserved our win. It's the first time we have won here in ten years and hopefully it is not another ten years before we win here again! I couldn't be happier with that performance and that result.” 
Young was particularly pleased with his teams game management in difficult conditions: “I think we were smart, when it wasn't on we didn't try to overplay, but when we sensed that something was on I thought we were really accurate. Some of our offloading and support play was excellent and when we had the opportunities we took them and got ourselves a pretty commanding lead. I think we were really clinical, we controlled possession and field position, so we didn't give Northampton many opportunities at all.”
Although Wasps didn’t add to their lead in the second half, the Director of Rugby was still satisfied with the overall performance: “Second half it certainly wasn't a case of us shutting up shop and trying to protect our lead, because we knew that would invite Northampton on to us and we couldn't afford to do that. Northampton were always going to get back into the game and they made it a lot tougher in the second half.
“We could look at the negatives and say that with the lead that we had, we could have kicked on and got the bonus point, but from our point of view we limited them to a few points and we were pretty much in control throughout. So, for me, I think it wasn't far off an eighty-minute performance and I couldn't ask much more of the players. All the questions we have asked of them, they have put their hands up and answered.”
The victory was littered with great performances including an impressive Premiership debut from Alex Rieder and a great shift from the stand-in captain George Smith.

“George has been excellent all week with his leadership, but tonight he was everywhere. He did a lot of clever things as well, he not only did his bread and butter stuff around the contact area, but he made little break-outs, acted as the link man and put kicks in behind, so I thought he was excellent and really smart.
“I also thought Alex Rieder in his first game was excellent and obviously Rob Miller got man of the match and he looked real quality. Josh Bassett worked so hard for his try, I think he came from about 30 or 40 metres behind Rob, to get on his shoulder. So I was really pleased with everyone and we've got to enjoy this because I can't remember the last time I left here with a smile on my face.”