Jeremy Manning is proud of the way his young players have grown and helped transform Abu Dhabi Harlequins’ season in recent weeks.

Following a difficult start, that included losing their opening two Sport360° UAE Premiership games, Quins have turned around their fortunes.

A win against Xodus Wasps on Friday would be their third in succession, although the ex-Munster and Newcastle Falcon player is trying to keep his team grounded.

“It will be a real battle with Wasps and they will be extremely tough to beat in Dubai,” Manning said.

A young team will get a little bit younger on Friday, with Ed Lewsey out of the game.

“The back line is looking very young – and then there’s me,” joked the New Zealander.

He’s been impressed with a young team that has bounced back from their two early defeats – a 16-15 loss to Dubai Hurricanes and a 19-17 loss at Jebel Ali Dragons.

“In the two losses I don’t think we played that bad, we just made mistakes; but I have massive confidence in the youngsters, they’ve made the jersey their own,” he said.

As for Wasps, they welcome back some of the 28 players that were missing from the two teams last week. Injuries, other commitments and an outbreak of conjunctivitis contributed to a heavy loss against Abu Dhabi Saracens, and the second team also had to forfeit their UAE Conference fixture.

Scrum-half Danny Rapallo, full-back Scott Hayes, locks Steve Butler and Sean O’Hairnan and captain Aaron Lewis all return, although they still have a front row dilemma and long term injuries to several first choice players.

Last week’s top performers Liam Reeve, Paul Serunjoji and Bernard Tsabang will all start.

“Last week was a freak occurrence with all the injuries and illness, but we need to get back to putting in strong performances,” said director of rugby Martin Southern.