Young keeping champagne on ice

Director of Rugby Dai Young insists it is too early to say the glory days are on their way back to London Wasps despite seeing his side maintain their unbeaten home run with victory over Sale Sharks in the Premiership.

Young's side prevailed 25-18 to ensure they will spend Christmas seventh in the table which brings into sharp focus the improvements made by the Londoners since last season's problems when there would have been little festive cheer.

It wasn't a vintage performance but 20-year-old No.8 Billy Vunipola further enhanced his claim for an England call-up, setting up Wasps' solitary try for T. Rhys Thomas.

Stephen Jones kicked 14 points in total and Wasps into a 9-8 half-time lead after Richie Vernon's try for the visitors and while Thomas' score and then two more penalties for the hosts effectively killed the game off, Sale hit back at the death with Johnny Leota's late score and Rob Miller's conversion earning a losing bonus point.

And as a result, Young is adamant his side are not the finished article.

"It's too early to say that we're there yet, we're not quite, we are a work in progress and if Sale had taken some of their chances, especially their kicks, we would have been under a lot more pressure," he said.

"We were below par and that's the worst we've played in the last four-to-six weeks.

"We found a way to win, but there is still a lot of improvement to find. If we had played one of the top four in the Premiership we would have come unstuck/.

"But in itself that is pleasing. There is no way that last season I would have been able to celebrate not playing well and still getting a result so that shows how far we've come.

"We're not there yet but there are some encouraging signs and some very good young players for us.

"Billy has been outstanding for us both in defence and attack all season and we'll have to start thinking about losing a few of them [for the Six Nations] and how we will deal with that."