Young: “These games have an edge to them.”

“It’s a nightmare. Every time I’ve carried the ball into contact over these past few weeks, I seem to end up getting a knock in the face and a black eye,” laughs Young.

“I had a cut on my cheek which was already stitched up before the Glasgow game, but the stitches opened up again.

“It’s been my daughter’s first Christmas as well. My missus will be raging that I’ve ruined the Christmas photos!”

Scuppered festive photoshoots aside, Young is a player that relishes the physical side of the game.

Therefore, it was no surprise that the lock was disappointed in the way Edinburgh performed in the opening stages of Friday night’s 1872 Cup opening leg defeat at Scotstoun where the hosts shot out of the blocks, winning the breakdown battle.

“We pride ourselves on our physicality,” Young continued. “We knew the first half wasn’t good enough. The second half was a bit better after we addressed it at half-time.

“We just gave Glasgow too many chances in the first half. Any time we got into their 22, we just weren’t clinical enough in terms of coming away with points.

“We only came away with one try at the end of the night when we definitely had opportunities to score a few more than that. In big matches like this, that means winning or losing the game.

It was a really tough game. We always knew that was going to be the case playing Glasgow at home. We haven’t won at Scotstoun since 2018.

“There are a lot of areas we need to improve for next week. But they are within our control in terms of the breakdown and stuff like that. We’ll be gunning for it going back to BT Murrayfield next weekend.”

Young will be hoping for the opportunity to pull on the jersey once again this Friday night as Edinburgh Rugby host the Warriors in the second and deciding leg at BT Murrayfield.

With a bumper crowd expected for the 150^th anniversary clash, the lock expects the match to be decided on ‘small margins’, with Edinburgh seeking to lift the famous trophy for the second straight season.

Young continued: “It’s small margins to be honest, just in terms of the breakdown and also the set-piece. There were a couple of small errors at the set-piece which we need to fix. We also need to be better at the breakdown, because we gave away too many cheap penalties and Glasgow punished us for that.

“We have confidence we can turn it around. We have confidence playing at home, just like Glasgow do when they’re at Scotstoun.

“These games have an edge to them. It’s not like playing any other team. Glasgow will be gunning for it coming to our place, but we’ll be up for it.”