The 2027 Rugby World Cup may still be just over a year away, but its presence is already in the bodies and minds of many professionals as they prepare for the new season.
Rested and freshly conditioned bodies, at least the ones that aren’t already taking hits, get somewhere close to game-ready as United Rugby Championship and Gallagher PREM are preparing to take off next week.
And despite the 12-month marathon to get to the starting line Down Under, minds are sharpening at the prospect of taking part in the next global rugby gathering.
Glen Young from Edinburgh is no different. It may be more than two years since he won the last of four Scotland caps – against Canada on his only Test start, before a torn pectoral muscle forced him home and a miserable season ensued battling further injury problems.
After falling down the national pecking order as a result, there are now a number of at least 10 other locks vying for Gregor Townsend’s selectorial attention.
But after eight weeks of pre-season training, the 31-year-old Borderer’s ambition is still burning with that World Cup carrot on the horizon.
“For me, I wouldn’t hesitate to say it’s going to be a goal,” Young said. “You’d be a fool to say you don’t want to play in a World Cup. Realistically, I’m not getting any younger, so if I were to go to one, this is probably my best chance.
“It just goes hand-in-hand with a good game for Edinburgh. I’m a big believer in you can only control the controls, so if I can put my hand here … we’ve got some good locks that will drive each other. But obviously I’d love to go. It would be such a cool experience.”
Earlier this year, Young was fighting to save his professional future with just months to go Edinburgh he pursued and actively looked at future alternatives outside of rugby while spending time with companies in the renewable energy sector.
But a string of consistent, energetic displays – he featured in 20 of Edinburgh’s 23 matches last season, starting 14 of them, including a pair at blindside flanker – earned him a new one-year deal to extend his stay in the Scottish capital into a sixth season after previous spells at Newcastle, Doncaster and Harlequins.
Young still faces a battle for regular action with his club, Scotland notwithstanding, with evergreen Grant Gilchrist (now the country’s most capped lock), Marshall Sykes, Callum Hunter-Hill, 6ft 11in Rob Carmichael and young starters like Scotland Under-20s also demanding standout play from Christian Lindsay.
But with Gilchrist out until mid-October with a torn bicep, there’s an early opportunity to set a marker.
“It’s a good group in the second row and we work together; we know each other’s strengths and how each other works,” Young said.
“Even when Gilcho is injured, we still rely on his experience and he always helps me. We’ll be lucky when he comes back, but I hope to get some game time and put my hand up.”
“I feel good. I’m a pretty confident player and if I get a lot of playing time, that confidence seems to grow. Obviously it was a tough year for the team last season, but personally I enjoyed getting a lot of playing time.”
“I was more stressed about it a few years ago when I didn’t really have any plans to give up rugby, but I’m just enjoying it. I’ve only got one year left on my contract so if this is my last year I’ll make sure I enjoy it.
“I had the same attitude last year. We played away France and I thought, ‘this could be the last time you play in France’. It’s quite liberating to have that attitude. You play a little more freely. This doesn’t mean you start doing stupid things, but just take the pressure off yourself, enjoy the moment and give it your all.
“I made sure to keep working in the offseason. I took a little break, but I wanted to hit the ground running on day one and be nice and ready to put myself in the window. Having a good preseason under your belt sets you up for a good season.”
Edinburgh has been a tough, tough guard at times in recent years. Plenty of muscle and graft up front, but often lacking the precision at key moments and the wit to harness their power forward and unlock some of their star backline talent.
Midway through his third season in charge, head coach Sean Everitt was handed a new two-year contract in January, a decision that divided opinion as the Capital City slipped to 12th in the URC, 16 points off the play-off position they occupied 12 months earlier.
The boys from the fall were three of Everitt’s assistant coaches, with only offensive line coach Stevie Lawrie surviving. Three new Australian voices have been recruited to take charge of attack (Tim Sampson), defense (Brad Davis) and skills/contact (Michael Hodge).
The latter, who arrived just three weeks ago from his previous role with the Irish Rugby Union, underlined the principled shift in emphasis being injected into the squad in pre-season.
“We want to play fast and that’s on both sides of the ball,” said Hodge, a former NSW player Waratahs and Australia A team of seven. “We want it to look fast, too — in our defensive speed, our offensive transitions, our cancer speed and the way we want to play. We certainly have a team that we think can play that way. It’s exciting and we hope you see it.”
Young, who will face his former club Harlequins in Edinburgh in the final pre-season at The Stoop on Friday, believes the new staff and approach will pay dividends.
“It’s always a bit nerve-wracking when new coaches come in; you don’t know if they’re going to like you or not, but we got on well,” he added.
“It’s exciting. We’ve streamlined the message a little bit. As a player, the message seems pretty clear in what we want to do, which is good because it means it’s pretty easy to measure whether we’re doing what we said we’re going to do. We know if we get it right, we’ll be in a decent space.”
“The first few weeks were very difficult when we integrated the ‘play fast’ stuff. I struggled a bit – my calves were a bit tight! But now we’ve conditioned ourselves well for it. We did what was hard.”
“Guys like me who have been playing since day one have been playing for eight weeks now, so I’m looking forward to getting into the games now.”
