He may be playing catch-up, but Thomas Young’s return to the Wasps starting XV against Bath on Sunday couldn’t be more timely with the 2017 Under Armour Series only a month away.
An impressive replacement last weekend after recovering from a calf injury, he will join England No 8 Nathan Hughes and British & Irish Lions tourist James Haskell in the back row on what will be his 50th appearance for the club.
With openside specialists Sam Warburton and Ellis Jenkins ruled out of the series with long term injuries, and James Davies also nursing sidelined after shoulder surgery, Warren Gatland desperately needs competition and back up for Justin Tiupuric.
Young enjoyed a magnificent season at Wasps in the Aviva Premiership last season and went on the summer tour to New Zealand and Samoa. He started in the win over Tonga at Auckland’s Eden Park and then came on in the win over Samoa.
After Tipuric, Gatland has a trio of summer tourists he can consider for the No 7 jersey – Young, Ollie Griffiths and Josh Navidi. Outside of that Will Boyd is filling in manfully for Davies at the Scarlets.
But a fully fit and firing Young would be a huge boost for Wales at this time and this weekend’s game will give him the chance to play against Taulupe Faletau and new England flanker Sam Underhill.