Wasps need a win to prove it to themselves (From Bucks Free Press)

Wasps desperate for morale-boosting triumph over Irish

10:00am Friday 14th September 2012 in Sport By Alan Feldberg

FOR Wasps and Dai Young, the first win of the season can't come soon enough.

After last season and the last two weeks, that losing feeling is on the verge of settling in again and another defeat tomorrow would deepen the gloom still further, possibly even sending the still unsold club into a slump.

Young said: “Everybody is looking for that first win as early as you can in any season. A win at home would give the players a lot of confidence and take a monkey off our backs.”

Two games in is very early to be talking about monkeys and backs, but Young is acutely aware that, despite positive talk and positive flashes, only victories on matchday will fully clear heads that have grown used to losing.

Young said: “We've shown glimpses in the last two games of how good we can be, without putting in an 80 minute performance in either.

“We made mistakes that I'm confident we can put right and if we can get an 80 minute performance and shore our defence up I think we're going to be a hard team to beat.”

The game will be Wasps first of the season at Adams Park, after playing their 'home' game with Quins at Twickenham.

Young said: “Obviously you want to win your home games. If you win the majority of your home games your pretty much half-way up the league and you haven't got to do too much work away from home.

“If you can build that fortress mentality at home it puts you in a really strong position.

“You don't want to leave that until four or five games from the end, so it's a massive game for us.”