Wasps hopeful of Kurtley Beale's debut against Connacht

Wasps rugby director Dai Young is confident of Australian international Kurtley Beale making his debut with the Aviva Premiership club on Sunday's European Champions Cup clash against Connacht.

Beale, who was awarded the Australian rugby's best player of the year honour in 2011, was signed by Wasps for a whopping £700,000 deal to become one of the biggest signings in the Premiership history.

However, he suffered a tendon injury while playing for his former Super Rugby club Waratahs and was on the sidelines for almost six months delaying his debut in the English Premiership.

Young lauded the 27-year-old for showing a lot of maturity during the rehabilitation period.

"First of all, Kurtley is really excited. It is difficult for him as you can imagine.

"There was a lot of fanfare about us signing him and then unfortunately he got injured, which was then surrounded by questions of was it going to be a three-month, six-month or nine-month injury?

"Coming to a new club at the other end of the world pretty much injured has been difficult for Kurtley really, and it is a long rehab process.

"In fairness to him, he has got his head down and worked his socks off."

The Wasps boss also confirmed that Beale is set to be named on the starting XV or on the bench this Sunday unless he feels some discomfort in the final training stages.

"Kurtley is really excited about getting involved. He has got a couple of sessions to get through yet (this week), but we are pretty confident that he will have some involvement on the weekend.

"If he is looking extremely confident with everything, then we will probably start him, otherwise we will put him on the bench. That is hoping he does not get any reaction through training, but at the moment he is not having any of that so fingers crossed he will be available."

Wasps are currently placed second in the Aviva Premiership table while they are two points behind table topper Connacht in Pool 2 of the European Champions Cup. Young is confident that with Beale, the season is only going to get better for the Ricoh Arena outfit.

"He is a world-class player, without a shadow of a doubt," he said.

"It will probably take him a little bit of time to settle into our patterns and get his sharpeness back, but some of the touches he has done in training already, there is no denying the quality he possesses."