In the fictional Premiership Rugby stock report, there are very few players who finished the 2014-15 season with a higher value than Wasps’ Elliot Daly. The 22 year-old (yes, he’s just 22) finished his fifth Premiership season with five tries and a shortlisting for the Discovery of the Season award under his belt. He became the hot topic around the league and this clamour eventually led to the ultimate reward – a call-up to Stuart Lancaster’s England squad. For Daly, who has appeared for his country in an uncapped Barbarians game, the experience was a wholly positive one, despite not making it to the World Cup.

“It was really good, to be even part of wider squad for the World Cup is amazing,” said the centre. “There was a massive buzz about it and everyone in camp was focusing on that goal, focusing on winning the World Cup. Just to get to train in that kind of atmosphere was fantastic. Beyond that, getting to see that insight into the differences between international training and club, the high intensity, it was really good.”

If you’re wondering if there was even a hint of disappointment in Daly’s recollection of his England experience, put that thought from your mind. The centre was full of optimism about the England squad, the upcoming Premiership season and, as if he didn’t have enough to think about, the Singha Premiership 7s final on Friday. Wasps won their place in the final day thanks to strong performances from Daly and fellow Wasps starlet Christian Wade. Daly made no bones about the team’s target for the tournament.

“We’re all obviously looking forward to Friday and we see it as a chance to get the first silverware of the season. It takes you out of the preseason and gets you into that ‘game’ mode, but still with a bit of fun and a different flow. Even though a lot of the boys hadn’t played 7s in a long time, when the squad was announced everyone was so excited to see what we could do and how far we could get.”

Exeter Chiefs and defending champions Gloucester are among the sides that Wasps will have to overcome if they are to lift the Singha Premiership 7s trophy, but for now Elliot Daly has an even more difficult task – keeping up with the incessant flow of tries for teammate Christian Wade.

“Look, I set him up at least a couple of times! I think I can take two, but he played really well on the weekend and he’s winning with seven tries. I’m going to have to get on the scoresheet at some point or it’s going to get embarrassing.”

Following a breakout year, and particularly a scintillating slate of late-season performances, Daly is quickly being fitted for the ‘star of the future’ mould, and there seems to no better team to serve as the vehicle for Daly’s success than Wasps.

I talked about Daly’s hypothetical stock being high, but Wasps can boast a much more tangible financial value. Incoming players include Gloucester’s Dan Robson, a long overlooked dynamo at the scrum-half position, as well as a no-name Australian called George Smith. Going into their first full season at the Ricoh Arena, Wasps seem poised to terrorise the rest of the league in 2015/16.

“On the back of last year’s performance, where we finished sixth, our best for the last four years, it showed that we were trending in the right direction. We made some excellent signings and the feeling is there that we can cement our place in the top six and push on.

“Even in the European competition, we’ve got a group where we feel that, on our day, we could match any of those teams. Over the last few years, I think it’s clear to see that we’ve improved under Dai’s leadership, and our aim is to improve season after season. We have the self-belief that if we can do what we know we’re capable of, we’ll have a good season.”

Daly’s focus seems set solely on returning Wasps to the glory days, in the era of Dallaglio, Lewsey et al. He did tell me that England was his current goal, and that he wants to reach that goal ‘in the next couple of years’.

Conversely, one supposes that if he can maintain the level of performance he reached this season, another England call-up is all but inevitable. In the short term though, Elliot Daly and Wasps will be concentrating on the 42 minutes of furious Sevens action that is standing between them and silverware.

By Fraser Kay (@fraserkay)

The Singha Premiership Rugby 7s Series Final is at the Twickenham Stoop on 28 August. Tickets are £10 for adults and £5 for children from http://bit.ly/1hvtNOp