{"id":358024,"date":"2026-01-08T00:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T00:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/358024\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T00:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T00:52:09","slug":"scotlands-glen-young-refusing-to-be-deterred-by-contract-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/358024\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland’s Glen Young refusing to be deterred by contract uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

If he admits he is playing with something of a point to prove \u2013 to his current employers or prospective new ones \u2013 the Borderer is trying to stay focused on the present, rather than worrying unduly about what lies ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year I\u2019ve just said, \u2018I am out of contract but I\u2019m just going to enjoy it when I play\u2019. 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\u2019t 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\u2019re not putting pressure on yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young certainly looks to have had the bit between his teeth in recent weeks. In the absence of the injured Marshall Sykes<\/a> and Sam Skinner<\/a>, the athletic second-row has started Edinburgh\u2019s last four games, his longest run since the opening half-dozen matches of the 2023-24 season.<\/p>\n

That proved to be a rollercoaster of a campaign. His consistent form earned him a spot in Scotland\u2019s wider Six Nations<\/a> squad, having won his first three caps off the bench in the summer and autumn of 2022.<\/p>\n

An ankle injury picked up in training in early March, which required surgery, curtailed his domestic season, but he still made Scotland\u2019s summer tour squad, starting that opening Test against Canada.<\/p>\n

But days later, a torn pectoral muscle \u2013 again in training \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing back from those injuries, I was kind of over-trying to get back to my previous form,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I had a look at it and thought \u2018just chill out, just play and enjoy it\u2019 to take that pressure off. It has been good to just get some game time and get into the flow of it again.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor my confidence I just needed a good run over a few games and once you get that, you start to feel like you\u2019re you up to scratch with everything and you feel confident in the game, so now it\u2019s just about enjoying it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still early doors,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can only control the controllables so I\u2019ll just keep playing as well as I can and see where it goes from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about coming up with a plan for when you finish,\u201d he explained. \u201cYou want to keep playing and my body feels good enough to keep playing, but it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting 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 \u2013 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\u2019s using people like that, who are happy for you to come into their company and then finding out what you enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Head-to-Head <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Last 2 Meetings<\/p>\n

Average Points scored<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

More immediately, Young\u2019s thoughts are on the day job and Friday\u2019s enticing home Champions Cup pool clash with Gloucester.<\/p>\n

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

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<\/a> in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

This term they enjoyed a superb home win over Toulon<\/a> in their first Champions Cup group game \u2013 the highlight of their season to date \u2013 only for a much-changed side to crash 33-0 at Castres<\/a> a week later, the first of what proved to be three straight losses, with two demoralising defeats by Scottish rivals Glasgow<\/a> over the festive period.<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve played Gloucester<\/a> in the past and it\u2019s always a good atmosphere,\u201d Young added. \u201cThese big European games are always really good fun to play in. It\u2019s important that we really target the win at home if we want to kick on in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is only 18 months since Glen Young was making his first Test start for Scotland, belated reward…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-358024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}