Edinburgh Rugby and Scotland second-row Glen Young has opened up on his 10-month injury “nightmare” ahead of his club’s important URC match away to the Scarlets this Saturday.
Last March everything was going well for the Jedburgh man and he was in the wider Scotland squad that was involved in the closing stages of the Guinness Men’s Six Nations at the time.
However, he then suffered an ankle injury and was released from the squad in the build up to the round five match versus Ireland - starting 10 very frustrating months for him taking in three different injuries.
The former Newcastle Falcons and Harlequins man battled back to get himself fit for Scotland’s summer tour of the Americas and then earned his fourth cap in the comfortable win over Canada.
A pectoral injury suffered in training after that one saw his tour over before getting back fit and then being hit by a calf issue when back with Edinburgh early in the 2024/25 campaign.
He returned from injury number three, the calf problem, a fortnight ago off the bench in the EPCR Challenge Cup win over Vannes in France and then his comeback stepped up when he came on for the last 23 minutes last Sunday in the triumph over Black Lion in the same competition at Hive Stadium.
The 30-year-old is likely to be in the Edinburgh matchday 23 named on Friday by head coach Sean Everitt for the URC trip to Llanelli at the weekend and he is just glad to be back on the pitch.
“There is no doubt that 2024 was one of the hardest years of my rugby career,” Young said this week.
“I started the year playing some of my best rugby, but then spent the majority of the year sidelined.
“It's been really tough. Personally, I've been injured on and off since last year’s Six Nations with different injuries.
“It's been a real rollercoaster: getting injured, getting back to fitness, then getting injured again and then getting back to fitness and then getting injured again.
“I was in the Six Nations squad last year and then did my ankle in training there so I had to have surgery. I got back fit, went on the summer tour, played a game and then I tore my pec.
“I had surgery and recovered, but that then I tore my calf, so it's just been a nightmare.
“It's been such a rollercoaster, it was the just the highs of getting back fit and then the lows of getting injured again.
“There is no doubt it's been tough mentally, but, hopefully, that's it over. I'll just park 2024 and take things forward now.
“I'm feeling good. I've had a good few weeks of training and have played a couple of games now and I just love being back in with the boys.
“You start to feel more confident in your body. After you have played a couple of games, you start not to think about injuries as much and you start thinking more about the rugby.”
While Young is on the comeback trail with Edinburgh, his second-row buddy from the capital club Marshall Sykes is looking to make a Scotland comeback in the next few weeks and add to his one cap from 2021.
And Young believes the 25-year-old has come on leaps and bounds of late.
“Marshall has always been really physical and has loved tackling and hitting breakdowns and clearing rucks, but I think the thing he's worked on now is his lineout,” Young stated.
“He's got a lot better in that area and he really likes to carry the ball now, whereas maybe when I first joined the club [in 2021] he would have preferred to just hit the rucks and stuff.
“He's added a lot to his game and he works really hard at it and it’s good for him to be back in with Scotland, he'll be buzzing.”
With Scott Cummings having been ruled out of the Six Nations through an arm fracture, Scotland team head coach Gregor Townsend hinted he may call up second-row reinforcements in the lead up to the Italy opener on February 1.
Could Young come into the mix?
“I think for me personally, I've not really looked past just getting back fit,” the man himself explained.
“I've not played much, I've only played a couple of games off the bench so far, so I would be surprised [to get the call ] and there's a lot of boys that have been playing and playing well, but I'd never write it off and I would never say no to it.”
Meanwhile, Edinburgh are eighth in the URC standings with 22 points while the Scarlets are sixth on 23, so this weekend’s encounter at Parc y Scarlets is a very important match for both sides before the league pauses for three weeks.
We will find out on Friday which Scotland squad members Edinburgh will be permitted to use, but one man set to be involved is back-rower Tom Dodd.
The 27-year-old Scotland A cap Dodd said: “Games anywhere in Wales are always tough and they can become a bit of a dogfight, but we won at the Scarlets last year and we really want to keep our consistent form going and make it four wins in a row.
“We are really trying to focus on our away form, that is a big thing for us at the moment. We have won three games on the spin now including one away from home so we want to add to that and we know we’ll have to dig in this weekend.”
