Chris M Jones 2 Minute Read

Wasps were knocked out of the Champions Cup at the pool stages this season. Henry Browne/Getty Images

Wasps' Director of rugby Dai Young refuses to accept the Aviva Premiership has become the sick man of European rugby despite English clubs failing to reach the European Champions Cup semifinals but accepts squad sizes under the salary cap are a major issue.

Due to injuries Young's own Wasps squad is dangerously low on back row and second row options as he heads into tomorrow night's clash at Sale Sharks and accepts smaller squads are limiting options, raising the question of should the current salary cap be increased to deal with the problems affecting Premiership squads.

Young is adamant the Premiership remains the most competitive club league in the game but the pressure created by the £7 million cap is seeing a reduction of squad numbers. Wasps are operating with 40 players and it will drop to 39 next season with the current cap remaining in place for the next two campaigns.

For Lima Sopoaga and Brad Shields to be added to the Wasps squad, Danny Cipriani and James Haskell are leaving.

Young, whose Wasps side are third in the table, said: "We are getting too down on the Premiership at the moment and if it was the case that English clubs have not been enjoying European success then we would be worried, but a year ago we were celebrating a second successive Champions Cup win for Saracens.

"If we look at this over a three year period and the current situation was the norm then we would be asking questions. There have been a lot of injuries and you cannot get away from that and the Premiership is hard, with every game very tough. It is not a case of playing too much because the players don't get anywhere near the 32 game limit.

"I would say the top guys play without injury around 22-26 games a season including England matches. The salary cap is an issue because the international players will demand their market value and when the cap goes up it is still the same size squad with more going to the best players.

"The reality is if we didn't want to pay Joe Launchbury's market value then 11 other clubs would. Squads are getting smaller and the directors of rugby talk about this and we need to give the internationals a break. The Welsh and Irish players will get more rest and the Leinster side that beat Sarries will probably play together eight or nine times this season.

"At the moment at Wasps we have a pretty efficient 23 we can still put on the field at Sale but two or three more injuries and we are going to look a bit threadbare."