Catching up with Queensland Country Captain Angus Scott-Young

Angus Scott-Young has been putting in the hard yards with the Reds and in the NRC with Queensland Country for a few years now. I’d been keen to catch up with him for some time and was glad we were able to sit down and catch up. Since we organised our interview, it was announced that he was chosen as Captain of this years QLD Country squad!

Congrats to Angus and also to everyone else that was selected to be a part of both the Queensland Country and the Brisbane City squads!! I’m looking forward to an exciting season.

[NRC update: Brisbane City have their first local game this Saturday at 3pm, down at GPS in Ashgrove. Our Country side are playing over in Perth, but you can watch that game and all other games live for free, at www.rugby.com.au.)

I hope you enjoy reading my conversation with Angus!

Hey Angus, thanks for taking time to sit down and chat. First of all, congrats to you and the UQ squad on your premiership win this year. No doubt you will be hungry for more success with Queensland Country.

Yeah of course. It’s pretty cool winning with Uni. I remember watching them throughout the season, they were like 7th or 8th, I think at one point. I was obviously off with the Reds… I was pretty keen to get back and play. I had a few health concerns, I don’t know if you know, I was in hospital for a couple of days. I had a bit of pneumonia which isn’t the best thing to have. I was in hospital for the Easts game, I was watching and cheering in my bed… then I got out 2 days before the Uni-Jeeps game and I was running waters. I wasn’t the best water runner cos I was kind of struggling to breath (laughs). But I got a bit better during the week and got 20 minutes at the back end of the final.. but it was awesome to win. But yeah like you said with the NRC… coming second last year doesn’t really sit well with me, so hopefully we can do one better this year.

We planned to catch up last week and so it was cool to hear, just a few days ago that you were given the captaincy. How are you feeling about that?

Yeah it’s pretty cool. I’ve played with Country for four years now and I was always the young guy that followed the orders, now I guess it’s a bit of a different challenge to be the guy telling everyone else what to do. I’m still kind of finding my feet because I was a captain of under-12s, that was probably the last time. Ever since then, I’ve just been doing my job. But it’s a good group of guys, they make it pretty easy. So hopefully we can get some good performances out there. 

What does the NRC mean to you and your teammates, especially in the lead up to the Reds season next year?

Yeah. For me, I’ve always seen NRC as a place to test yourself in a different sort of arena. Cos with Super, you get pretty nervous when you’re out there and as a young guy, I was pretty focused on just doing my job, I wasn’t as focused on expansive game playing and pushing my skills and that sort of stuff.

NRC is a place to develop those skills. And relating to the previous question… Hopefully I can develop my leadership skills and that can shine through to the Reds season and I can take more initiative in that sort of arena.

I’m looking forward to getting my Reds membership for next season. In the mean time, I’m excited about the NRC games, especially the local ones we will see this year.

Yeah, we’ve got a few. Next weekend is the double header down at Bond [Sunday 8th September]. Have you heard about that one?

City will play first [at 1pm] and we’re playing second [at 3pm]. How good will that be? A big day in the sun… I’m excited for that one.

Me too! I hope you don’t mind if we talk about your rugby journey.

Yeah of course, all good.

What was it like watching your dad play for the Reds and for the Wallabies while you were growing up?

So my Dad’s career was more in his prime in the early 90s and I was born in ’97. So his career was sort of coming to an end when I was born. Obviously, growing up I watched a lot of his games when I was younger though.

One of the ones I remember quite profoundly was when I was around 8 or 10 years old and he was going on an Ex-Wallabies legends tour and they played against the South African Barbarians team or something, over in Durban. So I went over with my family and my brother and I were ball-boys which was pretty cool. That was my earliest memory of being actively involved.

How old were you when you played your first game?

I actually used to play soccer when I was young ‘cause Mum thought it would be good to keep the foot skills up. I was probably 6 when I started soccer. My first footy game, I was probably at 8, down at Brothers, right near my house. It was still touch back then. I think my first game of tackle was under-9. That’s when I started to really enjoy it, ‘cause I was pretty much bigger than everyone else. So I was a pretty good player, everyone would just give me the ball and I’d run through some people.

What clubs did you play for before you came to UQ?

Yeah, I played at Brothers for probably 4 years. Then I moved across to Easts, because all my school mates were at the Eastside, I went to Churchie eventually. Then I stopped playing club to focus on school footy. Then getting out of school, I started down at UQ. I started studying there, I got a scholarship, so I was just started doing everything over there.

Are you excited about the rule changes coming up? Also, in particular... can you talk about the 50:22 rule? (Some of my readers, like my Mum, are clueless about rugby, so feel free to start from the beginning.)

Yeah it’s pretty cool, the new rules. The 50:22… Apparently, if you’re behind the 50 meter line and you kick it out, you get the line-out. It’s gotta bounce, but if it goes out inside the other 22… you get to throw it in. And the same with the opposite - if you’re inside the 22 and if you kick it out past the 50 meter line, you get the throw as well. It’s pretty cool… changes the game up a bit. Apparently it will impact the game by making more free-flowing footy because they’ll have one more person back to cover the kick. So that will affect the defensive structures of teams.

And also, if you’re held up over the line when trying to score, it’s a drop-out, instead of a 5 meter scrum, which I think’s pretty good. ‘Cause there’s a lot of time when they just keep getting held up, keep scrummaging, keep getting held up and it’s like you’re defending all day. Drop-outs are pretty cool, it reminds me a bit of League, which could be pretty fun.

With the 50-22 - if a team masters that and does it really well, I can see that being a massive weapon.

Thanks for that. I think the NRC is going to be fun, especially with these new rules being trialed.

Yeah, it will be exciting and makes it fresh again!

Thanks Angus for taking time to chat today! All the best over in Perth, this weekend. I’ll be watching online!

Perfect. Thanks very much. Thanks for having a chat with me!