Seven tries in five games despite having a smoothly-functioning and at times dominant front row is an unlikely description of Wasps based on recent history.

But that is precisely where they found themselves prior to Sunday’s morale-boosting win over Harlequins.

Despite having a grizzly former tight-head prop at the helm, few would dispute that the black-and-golds have been the most expansive, entertaining side in England during the last few seasons.

Indeed, when it comes to attacking intent you could say they never die wondering - or should that be Dai wondering...

But while their scrum has never been below-par - with the possible exception of a dip suffered around this time last year - neither would Wasps in the same time-frame be known for front row dominance.

However, that has all changed in recent weeks, when by my reckoning, Young’s pack ‘won’ the set-piece contest-within-a-contest in all of their first seven matches this term.

Admittedly this has been slow to translate into results, but nonetheless this progress should not be dismissed out of hand, as loose head prop Matt Mullan cautiously acknowledged.

“It’s aways nice if something that you’re judged on is going well,” he said.

Matt Mullan runs with the ball during the European Rugby Champions Cup match between Ulster Rugby and Wasps

“But it can all change and be flipped on its head within one or two scrums, and trust me, Dai’s not letting us get ahead of ourselves particularly at scrum time.

“He takes a lot of pride in it because it’s where he played and is something that he’s in charge of here. We’re working hard and not taking anything for granted.”

Neither Mullan nor Jake Cooper-Woolley have missed time through injury to date, although to balance this first-choice hooker Tommy Taylor is yet to make his seasonal bow.

This resilience has undoubtedly helped Wasps’ scrummaging, although Mullan also credits a detailed preparation process established during the summer.

“We had a really good team meeting in pre-season about the scrum where Dai basically asked us what we needed from him and how we want to prepare for a game in the week,” the former Worcester No.1 said.

“All the front rowers were in there together, whether they were an academy boy or had played 100 times for the club, all of us chipped in.

“With some input from the coaches, we ended up identifying what we need as a front row to get ready for the game. We set our stall out and said ‘this is what we need to do each day, whether that’s meetings, watching clips, or actual work out on the pitch.’

“We’ve stuck to that approach since, and whether it goes well or not, we’ll go back to that drawing board and tick things off each week.”

Wasps' Matt Mullan in action during the European Champions Cup clash with Toulouse

A law change introduced this season requires hookers to strike for their own ball, while the feeding scrum half is positioned closer to his front row.

And according to Wasps’ former skipper, these innovations have brought the desired effect by reducing scrum resets, and improving ball-in-play time.

“Now you have to strike for the ball, if you get your timing right you can get it straight to the No.8 and play off it, whereas if you go back two or three years, teams were trying to keep it in the channel, roll over teams or turn it into a really long contest,” he said.

“That means there’s more balance between trying to play off the back of scrums or not, and it’s not turning into loads and loads of resets.

“You can still dominate teams and get penalties from the scrum, but you’re not seeing teams steamroller opponents off their own put in very often now.”