Angus Scott-Young has spoken publicly for the first time about the explosive sequence of events that defined his arrival at the NSW Waratahs – a pre-season training brawl that left him with a fractured eye socket, a torn calf in its wake, and an estrangement from his former Wallaby father Sam.
Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, the 28-year-old back-rower – who joined the Waratahs this summer after three seasons at English heavyweights Northampton Saints – revealed he had been "horrified" by social media comments his father made in the aftermath of the incident, and that the two are no longer in contact.
"To be honest, I'm not on speaking terms with my dad. I don't support what he said," Scott-Young said.
"I don't condone it in any way, and I was horrified to hear it."
The training fight, in the fourth week of pre-season, saw teammate Miles Amatosero throw five punches across two separate moments, leading to a fortnight stand-down in trials following an internal investigation. Scott-Young suffered a fractured eye socket and tore his calf muscle the week after, ruling him out of the Mudgee training camp, the trials and the first five weeks of the Super Rugby Pacific season.
Two weeks after the incident, internal training footage emerged on social media. Sam Scott-Young, who played seven Tests for the Wallabies between 1990 and 1992, responded to former Wallaby Drew Mitchell's post by challenging Amatosero to a fight and using the term "fresh off the boat" – a phrase widely regarded as a racial slur. He later denied the racial framing in subsequent interviews and doubled down on the challenge.
For Angus Scott-Young, the public flare-up forced a confrontation with both his teammates and his own family.
"Yeah, I don't support them, obviously," he said of his father's comments.
"It was pretty out of the blue when my mate sent it to me. I had some conversations. I chatted to Drew Mitchell and just cleared the air."
"I had some conversations around the Tahs just to make sure that everyone knew that that relationship is a bit estranged and that I don't want any connotations sort of passing down to me from what was said. I had to front-foot it."
His relationship with Amatosero, by his own account, has settled. Speaking to media after the Waratahs' Round 2 fixture in February, the towering lock said he and Scott-Young had moved on, with the pair now packing down alongside each other in the scrum.
"We've all moved past it. Everyone's done with it," Amatosero said at the time. "There's nothing lingering between Angus and I."
Scott-Young echoed that on the field at least, the two had reset.
"We had a few chats. Obviously it was a difficult situation for both of us," he said.
"We're at a stage now, you saw on the weekend that we're packing down next to each other, and we have a collective goal we're trying to achieve at the Tahs. So we're both just focused on that. We're able to work together, we're good."
The forward, who joined the Waratahs after a successful spell at Northampton that included a 2023-24 Premiership title and a 2024-25 European Cup final appearance, is now eyeing a Wallabies recall ahead of the home 2027 Rugby World Cup.
"I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty tough," he said of the integration period.
"I just wanted to get sorted and start playing and get along with the guys. That was a bit disjointed at the start. But now I've had a few games off the bench, and the start on the weekend was pretty big for me, to be honest. It kind of felt like I was officially part of a team."
After making his Waratahs debut off the bench in a win over the Brumbies, Scott-Young finally got a starting role in Round 3 against Moana Pasifika and topped the Waratahs' tally for combined tackles, carries, turnovers and ruck entries. He held his place at openside flanker for the Crusaders fixture last weekend in the maiden game at One NZ Stadium.
"I feel like I've actually provided some quality work to the team and I feel like I'm part of it now, which is good. But yeah, not gonna put it lightly, it was pretty tough to integrate," he said.
For the Waratahs, the Scott-Young saga has been a reminder that Super Rugby recruitment now plays out as much in social media comment threads as it does in scrum sessions. For the player himself, the focus has narrowed: rebuild form, claim a starting jersey, and force his way back into Joe Schmidt's plans.
