Young Gun: Scott Steele – Leicester scrum-half

It’s never easy to make your breakthrough at Leicester Tigers – just ask Billy Twelvetrees – but in Ben Youngs, scrum-half Scott Steele believes he has the perfect blueprint for success.
Steele, right, Scotland‘s No.9 for their recent Junior World Championship campaign, is entering his third year with the Tigers and he’s only too aware this season is make or break.
Having signed two summers ago after a successful trial during the Premiership Rugby 7s Series, Steele has found his chances few and far between – his first season ended with a debut in the LV= Cup semi-final victory over Bath and he made his first league appearances against Newcastle.
Last season, however, 20-year-old Steele didn’t get a sniff. Youngs is the undoubted first choice at Welford Road but in his absence, Micky Young and Sam Harrison have been Richard Cockerill’s go-to men.
Young has since moved on to Bath but Frenchman David Mele has arrived from Perpignan to swell the ranks and Steele is adamant he wouldn’t have it any other way, revealing Youngs’ presence in the squad gives him perennial hope.
“I know that this season is the one for me where I need to try to prove myself. It’s my third year and I need to get as much game time as I possibly can,” said Steele.
“Last year it wasn’t easy to get game time with Ben, and Micky Young and Sam and we’ve got David Mele coming over this season but I think that’s a positive thing.
“Working so closely with someone like Ben is always going to benefit my game and it’s great to ask him for advice and tips. He’s very approachable.
“Sam Harrison is also a very good player and then David Mele is classy as well. H’s got some real French flair. All scrum-halves are different so you try to pick different things up from different people.”
Despite waiting in the wings for Leicester, Steele still managed to force his way into the reckoning for the Scotland U20 squad this summer, usurping Edinburgh‘s Sam Hidalgo-Clyne and Ali Price as the first choice, having played a bit-part role during the Six Nations.
The Junior World Championship didn’t exactly go to plan – Scotland finished tenth after a disappointing defeat by Samoa, having already beaten them in the pool stages – but Steele doesn’t believe that tells the whole story.
“Obviously, our finishing position was lower than we wanted it to be but there were some good performances,” he added.
“We beat Samoa early on in the competition and then almost beat Wales, who ended up getting to the final, and we didn’t even play that well.
“It was a fantastic experience and it has given me a lot of confidence for the coming season.”
A promising right-back in his youth, Steele was on the books of Kilmarnock and Queen of the South before he had to make the choice between the round and the oval ball – and he has no regrets over the choice he made.
“It was getting to the stage where I really had to pick between the two, there were extra rugby sessions and gym work and things like that and I had to make the call to leave football behind,” he added.
“It was a bit of a dilemma but I like to think it is worked out well with my move to Leicester.”