Leinster will bounce back from Wasps defeat, insists Dai Young

Dai Young stood patiently at the back of the press room yesterday evening, nursing a can of beer as he waited for Leo Cullen to finish and take his own turn in front of the microphones.

It was well-earned.

The Welshman has spearheaded a miraculous turnaround in Wasps’ fortunes since joining as head coach and the progress made was franked yesterday given they won in Dublin by 27 points 12 months after suffering a five-point defeat at the same venue against the same opposition.

Wasps are a club with considerable momentum thanks to the efforts of Young and the move to Coventry. Leinster would dearly love to know that feeling now, instead they find themselves scratching around for the sort of form that could reignite the glory days.

“Without a shadow of a doubt, Leinster will bounce back from this,” said Young. “It wasn’t their day today, it was our day. But it happens and they’ve shown in the past when people write them off that they come back, so I’m sure they’ll be in there right at the end.”

Though delighted with the result and accepting it was deserved, Young added the rider the scoreline may have flattered them given Leinster felt obliged to chase the game and dispense with the percentages when two scores down.

Leinster had no-one to spark that revival, certainly no-one like Charles Piutau, the Kiwi full-back who was sensational yesterday and who Young confirmed was definitely contracted to Ulster from next summer onwards.

“I thought he was outstanding, wasn’t he? We were quite lucky that he was contracted and couldn’t go there this season, so they were looking for somewhere for him to go for a season and our hand was straight up there. I thought he did a great job for us.”

One of many on the day for a side that had been regarded as pool outsiders.

Not now.