Treatment of Young is ‘a joke’ – Jarvis

FORMER Welsh international Lee Jarvis has branded Thomas Young’s treatment from the WRU a ‘joke’ after the Wasps flanker turned in a man-of-the-match performance in the Gallagher Premiership at the weekend.

Young finds himself an outcast and ineligible for his country, through no fault of his own, after re-signing with his English employers when no Welsh region offered him a contract.

The Welsh Ruby Union’s 60-cap threshold for players plying their trade outside of the country means Young has no chance of adding to his three-cap international haul.

And Jarvis went on to social media to vent his anger following Young’s outstanding show in Wasps’ 34-21 at Northampton Saints.

“Thomas Young man of the match for Wasps,” he tweeted. “One of the best 7s in the UK. But he’s not allowed to play for his country.

“Let’s be honest that is a joke. The quicker they ban the 60 cap rule the better in my opinion.

“Best players should be wearing the red of Wales wherever they are playing. Simple.”

One fan suggested Eddie Jones should take a look at Young for the England team before being told he was already capped by Wales.

Young’s last cap came against Italy in Rome during the 2019 Grand Slam campaign.

And Young’s worth across the border was put into sharp contrast when the Gallagher Premiership resumed from its Covid-19 lockdown with the back-rower putting in a man-of-the-match performance at Franklin’s Gardens.

Wasps’ brilliant back row of Young, Jack Willis and Brad Shields tore Saints apart in the breakdown, and set up a four-try win that moved them up to fourth place and nudged Saints down to sixth.

Young slid on the wet turf to make a tremendous pick-up of a speculative kick infield by Ahsee Tuala as Northampton sought a winning score, and the Welsh flanker launched a length-of-thefield counter through Lima Sopoaga and Dan Robson, finished by Josh Bassett.

Wasps head coach Lee Blackett said: “Thomas Young got the TV man of the match but any of our back three could have got it. They were really good in and around the breakdown.”

Young also showed his class off the pitch during an awkward TV interview when he was asked how good a coach Blackett was?

Given Blackett was the man who replaced Thomas’ dad Dai as the Wasps head honcho, he was lauded on social media for the professional way he handled a potentially awkward question.