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A southerly wind is blowing through rugby union, and it is a wind of change.

Slowly the days of a forward-dominated game are becoming redundant. This change started in the Southern Hemisphere’s leading club competition, Super Rugby, where for years the focus has been on scoring tries rather than keeping them out.

Super Rugby players seem totally unafraid of taking risks, and willing to play with a confidence instilled by their excellent core rugby skills. This style of play is seldom seen in the North, where clubs focus on playing the percentages perhaps as a result of the culture imbued by promotion and relegation, which is absent from Super Rugby.

A few shining Northern Hemisphere lights do exist though, and at the moment one club’s light is shining more brightly than the rest.

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I have been an avid follower of Super Rugby throughout the last ten years and the rugby Wasps have played this season is more akin to what is seen in the Southern Hemisphere than that found in Europe.

However the comparisons are not just about the team throwing the ball around and scoring lots of wonderful tries, but also the exquisitely high level of core skills throughout the squad. Monday’s Rugby Tonight on BT Sport showed a graphic that has since done the rounds on social media that was particularly pleasing for Wasps fans. It showed match averages in lots of key statistics across all Aviva Premiership teams, and Dai Young's club were top in all categories.

I believe that it is not so much the team’s willingness to take risks and play on the front foot that is contributing to their winning run, but more that the the players all have the skills to make this approach successful. There was no better example of this than the recent trip to the Rec. Pundits would say the conditions didn’t suit throwing the ball around, however the team came out and played some wonderful rugby showing some excellent handling and game management to come away with a great away win.

It is perhaps no coincidence that Wasps’ back-line has a strong Southern Hemisphere accent - Kiwi Jimmy Gopperth runs the show from fly half, and outside him are the phenomenal attacking talents of fellow New Zealanders Siale and Charles Piutau plus Frank Halai, not forgetting currently-injured Tongan Alapati Leuia and Samoan Sailosi Tagicakibau.

But it is their boss, Dai Young, a former tight head prop from the less-exotic location of Aberdare, who sets the tone, and he is currently proving that entertaining rugby and winning rugby can be one-in-the-same, regardless of weather conditions and league pressures.

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