Dai Young remains optimistic Kurtley Beale will be available for the Premiership final, which would be the No15’s last match for Wasps before he returns to Australia.
“He went off with a bit of a hamstring injury. Fingers crossed it’s not too bad,” the Wasps director of rugby said. “There’s a bit of a tight turnaround. Not ever having had a hamstring injury myself, I don’t know how quickly it can be done. I’m really hoping we can get him to Twickenham, because it would be a really fitting last game for him.”
Nathan Hughes is another concern, limping off towards the end. “Nathan just went over on his ankle. He’s got another one, so I think he’ll be all right.”
Time will tell whether Young’s optimism for either player’s chances owed something to euphoria after another extraordinary escape from the jaws of defeat, even by Wasps’ recent standards. And so their unbeaten home run goes on after Josh Bassett’s 78th-minute try sent them through. It will stand at 21 months by the time they resume hostilities next season.
With or without Beale, Young has promised they will not let up on the policy of exhilarating attack that is serving Wasps so well. “It’s not in our DNA [to eschew an attacking mind-set]. Of course, you’ve got to defend. Contrary to reports, we talk about being stronger in defence, but that doesn’t mean we take away from what is our strength, which is attacking.”
The final against Exeter on Saturday is the dream match-up for those who love their tries, but how Leicester, who finished the regular season 18 points behind their semi-final opponents, would have graced it too, having worked through the troubles that plagued them earlier in the season. And no one has done so more nobly than Tom Youngs, who received a standing ovation when he was replaced in the second half.
“It’s indicative of the character of the guy,” Leicester’s coach, Matt O’Connor, said. “He’s led from the front the whole season. He’s done it his whole career. You look at a bloke who’s moved from centre to hooker, then moved from the bench of our squad, to the team, to the England set-up, to the Lions.”
The Leicester coach added: “Now to be dealing with his personal situation with Tiff [his wife, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer] and still be fronting up and delivering over and above any other captain I’ve ever been associated with is phenomenal. He’s a special player and a special bloke.”
