Scotland's Glen Young refusing to be deterred by contract uncertainty

It is only 18 months since Glen Young was making his first Test start for Scotland, belated reward for a decade of boiler-room service at Newcastle, Doncaster, Harlequins and latterly Edinburgh.

But as things stand the 31-year-old lock is out of contract at the end of the season and facing an uncertain future beyond it.

That might have been a considerable source of stress previously, but Young has grown used to the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune that accompany life as a professional rugby player.

If he admits he is playing with something of a point to prove – to his current employers or prospective new ones – the Borderer is trying to stay focused on the present, rather than worrying unduly about what lies ahead.

“When I came back from injury last year, I knew I was out of contract and I was putting too much pressure on that, which was affecting my performances because I was thinking about it too much,” he said.

“This year I’ve just said, ‘I am out of contract but I’m just going to enjoy it when I play’. Hopefully by releasing the pressure on myself with the contract stuff, that just lets me be a bit more free on the pitch and doesn’t affect my performances as much. It has a positive effect because you just concentrate on the rugby. You feel like you play better when you’re not putting pressure on yourself.”

Young certainly looks to have had the bit between his teeth in recent weeks. In the absence of the injured Marshall Sykes and Sam Skinner, the athletic second-row has started Edinburgh’s last four games, his longest run since the opening half-dozen matches of the 2023-24 season.

That proved to be a rollercoaster of a campaign. His consistent form earned him a spot in Scotland’s wider Six Nations squad, having won his first three caps off the bench in the summer and autumn of 2022.

An ankle injury picked up in training in early March, which required surgery, curtailed his domestic season, but he still made Scotland’s summer tour squad, starting that opening Test against Canada.

But days later, a torn pectoral muscle – again in training – forced him home and meant a delayed start to last season. He returned in late October for one 15-minute replacement outing only to then tear a calf muscle which kept him out until the new year.

By that stage, Sykes had established himself as a frontline partner for Gilchrist or Skinner. Young still featured 14 times overall, but there were only three starts.

“Coming back from those injuries, I was kind of over-trying to get back to my previous form,” he said. “Now I had a look at it and thought ‘just chill out, just play and enjoy it’ to take that pressure off. It has been good to just get some game time and get into the flow of it again.

“For my confidence I just needed a good run over a few games and once you get that, you start to feel like you’re you up to scratch with everything and you feel confident in the game, so now it’s just about enjoying it.”

There have been no talks yet with Edinburgh, who he joined in 2021 after a productive couple of years at Quins, about extending his contract.

“It’s still early doors,” he said. “You can only control the controllables so I’ll just keep playing as well as I can and see where it goes from there.”

In a similar vein, Young refuses to let himself contemplate a possible return to Scotland duty, with Gregor Townsend soon to announce another Six Nations squad.

The frustrations of the past 18 months have forced him to consider life beyond rugby though, and he has recently spent time off from the game making contacts and spending time with businesses in the renewable energy sector.

“It’s about coming up with a plan for when you finish,” he explained. “You want to keep playing and my body feels good enough to keep playing, but it’s just being as prepared as I can. The more stuff like that I do, the more pressure it takes off having to perform, because you know there is going to be a life after rugby. It just means you can enjoy it.

“Getting prepared for when you finish is massively important, which I always say to the young lads. I buried my head in the sand when I was young – a lot of boys do. But once you start going out there, there are so many people willing to help rugby players and athletes. It’s using people like that, who are happy for you to come into their company and then finding out what you enjoy.”

Head-to-Head

Last 3 Meetings

Wins

1

Draws

0

Wins

2

Average Points scored

19

20

First try wins

33%

Home team wins

67%

More immediately, Young’s thoughts are on the day job and Friday’s enticing home Champions Cup pool clash with Gloucester.

It is the third season in a row they will have faced the Prem strugglers in European competition. Two years ago, Edinburgh lost 20-21 at home in the second-tier Challenge Cup, but recovered to make the quarter-finals.

Last season a mix-and-match side lost their opening group game 15-10 at Kingsholm but again Edinburgh rallied to earn home draws in each of the knockout stages, losing to eventual winners Bath in the semi-finals.

This term they enjoyed a superb home win over Toulon in their first Champions Cup group game – the highlight of their season to date – only for a much-changed side to crash 33-0 at Castres a week later, the first of what proved to be three straight losses, with two demoralising defeats by Scottish rivals Glasgow over the festive period.

Having snapped that losing run with a gutsy, narrow URC win over Benetton in Treviso last weekend, the chance to put themselves within reach of a place in the last 16 beckons against their injury-decimated visitors.

Edinburgh may be bottom of Pool 2 on points difference, but they are only one match point behind leaders Bath, who they face next week at The Rec in their final group game.

“We’ve played Gloucester in the past and it’s always a good atmosphere,” Young added. “These big European games are always really good fun to play in. It’s important that we really target the win at home if we want to kick on in Europe.”