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Depending on your outlook on life, meeting new people is one of the main joys or biggest concerns when entering a new environment.

Since I am in the former group, arriving at Wasps’ training ground for the first time in October was an exciting prospect, but also a slightly unusual one, since a lot of the faces around me were already at least slightly familiar.

The truth of course was nothing of the sort, since while my away-from-work status as an avid rugby fan who is also a former player and now very occasional referee meant I had seen and heard plenty from the likes of James Haskell and Joe Launchbury, I knew nothing of the men themselves.

Seven months later, and having now spoken to almost all of the 42 members of Wasps’ class of 2015-16, some of whom appear in front of the media on a fairly regular basis, I can only reflect on what a joy they have been to deal with.

The likes of Rob Miller, Dan Robson, Sam Jones, Matt Mullan and Jimmy Gopperth have given their time generously even in defeat, on days when the call of bar or home must have been significantly more attractive than another press interview.

More importantly, they have done so with endless patience and good grace, which reflects very positively on both the individuals involved (and these five names are a far-from-exhaustive list) plus the club’s culture.

I am a great believer than any team, in a work or sport environment, quickly takes on the characteristics of its leader. It is perhaps therefore no surprise that the man at Wasps’ helm, Dai Young, is friendly and approachable, always willing to listen to other points of view and as honest as they come.

As I have come to realise in the last seven months, there are plenty of very well-informed, close observers of Wasps, and these super-fans will doubtless be far from shocked that their director of rugby has these qualities.

However, they may be less aware that he gets to work at 6am every day, that he spent a significant period of time in the Southern Hemisphere picking up the skills to transition from player to boss, or that he is willing to at least consider describing himself as a control freak!

Finding out more about the world according to Dai was a fascinating experience, which began with him reflecting on his approach to the job:

Dai on his role:

“All directors of rugby are completely different. Some focus on employing staff, setting the culture, environment, recruitment and all that’ while others are also hands-on coaches.

“Whether I’m a bit of a control freak I don’t know, as I’m pretty much all over everything really, and I take a huge part in training. I adopt a role as forwards coach and head coach, and while we have other coaches there, I pretty much run the sessions.

“The enjoyable side for me is getting involved in coaching, but there are other responsibilities.

“For me personally, it’s hugely important to have an influence in how the team plays and how we shape individuals, which I would find hard to do if I was sat behind a desk and not being a part of it.”

Structure and delegation:

“I’m learning every day, event though I’ve been a DOR for 15 years I’m still learning, and still looking to learn.

“What I find with senior players is they want to have an input, but they also still want to be led. It’s a fine balance really - my job is to steer it and shape it.

“You can’t do it all yourself. I set the way we want to play, for example how I want the defence and attack to operate, then Brad leads that defence structure and Lee leads the attack. It’s about identifying the way you want to play as a club and recruiting people who will slot into that approach.

“We’ve been in the top four attack-wise for the last four years and we’ve had three different attack coaches. Lee has come in and done a great job for us, and I recruited him because we knew he would fit well into a system which I believe is the right way. Obviously every coach puts their own slant on it, but it’s pretty much how I want to operate. I’m hands on, probably too much!”

Player recruitment:

“I do the recruitment, so it’s pretty much my baby, although obviously I have people underneath me who I trust to help me.”

“It’s easier to spot the big stars, as you see them enough, it’s the young guys we’ve unearthed that you have to put a bit more work into than the George Smith’s of this world.

“You already know what they’re made of, but you still have to get the deals across the line, meet them, discuss it, put your vision across, see how they fit in and what they can bring to the club.

“I’ve never signed anyone without speaking to them. The minimum you would do for overseas players is Skype them, and have long discussions with them; in an ideal world you’d try and meet them.

“The important thing for me is you can see quality on the pitch, whereas you can’t see quality as a person, so you have to do homework. What a player brings on the pitch is important, but they have to fit in to the environment, not pull against it.

Building his team:

“With coaches and other members of staff, I’ve recruited and met every individual before bringing them in. Nobody comes into the environment until I’ve sat down and at least had a chat with them.

“Obviously there’s a chain of command like in all working environments, so I would have more input to the recruitment of higher level people such as heads of department, but I won’t allow people to come in at any level unless I’m comfortable with them.

“I can’t tell you if he is a good physio or conditioner, so I ask my head of department to look at his competencies, but what his values and behaviours are, that’s where I get involved.”

Defence coach Brad Davis moving to the Ospreys:

“His departure was a surprise, we didn’t see that one coming, but thankfully we’re now in a position where it won’t cause us too many problems and we’ll get a more-than-adequate replacement.

“He’s done a really good job, and put some positive structures in, and we thank him for his efforts.

“The timing of his announcement was disappointing, but people come and people go and we’re not getting too upset about it and it gives us the opportunity to look for someone to come in with a fresh voice.

“We’ve done that and believe we’ve identified three or four candidates who could come in and do a really good job for us.”

Management style:

“The reason I’m involved is to coach, that’s the side I enjoy the most, but the management side of things can take up a lot more time than that side and be more difficult.

“People are human beings, we all have problems and worries, so a player’s performance can be affected, just as much as a member of staff’s can.

“You take on many guises as a DOR - sometimes you have to be a disciplinarian and sometimes you put your arm round people, be understanding, and act as a bit of a social worker, and we have 70 people here that have to be managed.

“Players have a different outlook to management, but everybody’s job is important. Open-door policy is important, but it does mean you do plenty of work after everyone else has left the training ground for the day.

“Man-management is difficult since you can’t please everybody, but it’s a people’s business and you have to try and get the best out of staff and players, and I try to be honest and fair with people.

“My role is a lot more off-field than on-field. When you think about it, there’s only so much grass time, three maybe four sessions, add that up in the week it’s not a lot of time. The rest is running it and implementing things you want to happen.”

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Career Progression

“You can always learn off people in every area. I spent a lot of time developing myself at Cardiff before I came here and did some business courses on interviewing, negotiation skills and so on.

“You become a DOR because you’re probably a decent coach, but nobody teaches you how to do the rest, so you have to learn management skills.

“The biggest thing to me is to be yourself, don’t be someone you’re not as people see through it. If you’re not sure on something, you need to be open, and if there’s areas you need to improve, then find ways to develop them as you can’t be good at everything.

“The biggest thing I have learned personally is to not be afraid to ask for assistance, as there’s always people willing to help you. During the first two-or-three years of my coaching career I went to New Zealand, South Africa and Australia, as you do all the rugby courses, then you start to think ‘what else can I learn?’

“As a DOR I needed to learn to be far more professional business and management-wise, then you have to spend time developing yourself doing that. The learning is never done, just like for a player.”

The risks of professional sport and the recent exit of Bath’s Mike Ford:

“The Premiership directors of rugby are a tight group who meet maybe four or five times a year. We’ve all got similar problems, concerns and worries and no-one likes to see someone losing their job.

“So I really feel for Mike and send nothing but good wishes, but unfortunately it’s part-and-parcel of professional sport.

“Not being in the Bath inner-circle, I don’t know what’s gone on, and while results always play a part often other factors do too, and my thoughts go to Mike and his family.”