Young unfazed by Toulon galacticos
A TRIP to the Mediterranean to play Toulon at the Stade Mayol may sound glamorous but Newcastle scrumhalf Micky Young isn’t buying into the hype. Speaking to The Rugby
Paper as he prepares to embark on his 11th, and potentially most exciting, European campaign, the 29year-old insists Newcastle need to stay on task if they are to pull off a famous win in their first match in Europe’s elite competition for 14 seasons.
Young said: “We know what the atmosphere is going to be like with the partisan crowd and it’s going to be an incredible occasion. The fact we’re in the Champions Cup as a club is pretty awesome, and to be able to play for my home team in it is great.
“I understand it is Toulon, the three-time champions and the pedigree they have, but we have huge games each week and this is no different.”
Young has played in a Champions Cup quarterfinal, for Bath against Leinster in the 2014/15 season, but most of his continental rugby has come in the Challenge Cup.
The ex-England Saxon knows a good result today would be huge as they look to climb away from the foot of the Premiership table.
“Sometimes in the past it was perceived that you’d get a bit of a break, a chance to refresh once Europe came around, but that’s not the case now.
“It is a massive opportunity for us to put in a good performance on a big stage.
“We haven’t hit our strides yet like last season but we’re not that far off and we’ve still got huge amounts of confidence in what we’re doing.”
Toulon themselves have not made a flying start to the French domestic season, the three-time Champions Cup winners sitting third-bottom of the Top 14 after winning only two of their seven games.
“Toulon have always had a massive level of physicality, and they have stardust in pretty much every position,” said Young.
“They play with a flair which we’re probably not used to so much in the Premiership, but we just need to make sure we do our own jobs rather than focusing too much on that.
“We have some brilliant players in our own team who are capable of good things, and this is a great chance to express ourselves and get back to the performance levels we know we’re capable of.”
Young returned from a wrist injury to make his first Premiership appearance of the season in last week’s defeat to Sale and is now looking forward to battling it out with Sonatane Takalua for the Falcons’ No.9 jersey.
“Scrum-half is a massively important position for the way any team operates nowadays and it’s great that we’ve got quite a few good 9s at the club.
“Tane’s a great player. He is massively physical and does what he does. That sort of competition eradicates any chance of complacency.”
Young gets the nod today and Falcons director of rugby Dean Richards said: “We’ve got five guys who have had Champions Cup experience before so it’s a learning curve.
“Playing rugby in the south of France on these big European weekends is something a bit special, and the players will respond to that. The atmosphere in Toulon is as good as any, and we just want to get out there and enjoy it.”
There are several changes to the line-up with Sami Mavinga in the front row alongside Kyle Cooper and David Wilson.
Alex Tait comes in at full-back and Tom Arscott will be on the wing.
Tom Penny wins the spot at 13 and Joel Hodgson starts at fly-half with Toby Flood out with a shoulder problem. Will Witty and Glen Young start in the second row, and Fijian Nemani Nagusa makes his debut in the back row.
Toulon are without banned French centre Mathieu Bastareaud following his red card against Castres, but they do include New Zealand wing Julian Savea.