Glen’s aiming to punch his weight after joining Quins
HARLEQUINS second row signing Glen Young hopes his pugilistic pedigree will come to the fore as he trades blows with his teammates in the fight for a starting jersey.
After struggling to find favour at Newcastle last season, 24-year-old Young has exchanged Tyneside for south-west London in a bid to realise the potential of a career that saw him capped by Scotland at U20s level but has so far failed to ignite in the Premiership.
Young’s father, Dougie, was a heavyweight Amateur Boxing Association champion who featured in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles before winning silver at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh – battling qualities Glen now aims to emulate at the Stoop.
“He’s pretty inspiring, my dad, and I did a bit of boxing with him in Jedburgh, where we lived,” Young told
The Rugby Paper. “It’s a very individual sport whereas what I really loved about rugby was the team aspect, but he brought me up to work very hard.
“Even if you’re not the most talented player in the world, if you work hard and have that ethos, coaches will see that and hopefully reward you for it.
“Sadly, I wasn’t born when my dad boxed properly and although he turned professional and fought some good people, he was involved in an accident with a bus and couldn’t box anymore, but he still managed to pass those fighting disciplines on to me.”
Young may not have made the impact at Newcastle he had hoped for but his lineout leadership skills floated the boat of Harlequins boss Paul Gustard, after which a short meeting with the silver-tongued ex-England defence guru was enough to seal the deal.
He explained: “This time last year I wasn’t fussed about leaving Newcastle and was pretty happy, but my agent was speaking to clubs and Harlequins were interested.
“I could have stayed at Newcastle and there were a couple of other clubs, but as soon as I met Gussy I was pretty certain this was the place I wanted to come.
“The way he portrayed the club, its history and the fun aspect of training was really impressive and it just seemed like a really good club to be at. Everything’s so positive here, there’s a hell of a squad and there’s absolutely no negativity in training.
“Everyone’s keen to get better and there’s a lot of experience in the club with the likes of Chris Robshaw, Danny Care and Mike Brown. It’s amazing to be training with those boys and picking their brains because they’re all so knowledgeable.”
With James Horwill retiring and George Merrick, Stan South and Ben Glynn moving on, Young is now competing with Matt Symons, Dino Lamb and fellow new arrivals Tevita Cavubati, Toby Freeman and Stephan Lewies ahead of the new campaign.
Can he deliver a knockout blow? Young adds: “The good thing is a lot of us are new. Only Matt and Dino are here from last year so as a new bunch of boys we’re all learning off each other. No one’s established so we’re on a level playing field as we fight for that starting jersey.”