By james art Young was part of the England side that came up short in the 27-26 defeat at the Emirates Stadium, which was decided when Stephen Crichton’s golden point goal for a loss sent the South Sea Islanders into the final against Australia at the expense of the hosts.
The 23-year-old is one of nine players who started this semi-final to feature in Shaun Wayne’s 24-man squad for the two legs, the first of which starts at the home of the Super League champions on Sunday.
“It definitely took a while to get over and it still hurts to this day,” said Young, who crossed 20 times in his first season with the Sydney Roosters this season to take them within striking distance of the NRL grand final.
“It was really hard to be honest. All the boys were pretty devastated. We felt like we were in a really good place for the semi-finals and we really wanted to win the World Cup at home. It was not on our radars to be eliminated in the semi-finals.
“But obviously when you go through those tough times together it brings you a bit closer and you probably saw that last year with the job the boys did against a really strong Tonga team.
“It would be nice for a lot of guys who played in that game if we can win this time. Personally, it would be very sweet for me.”
Dewsbury-born Young made his debut for Huddersfield as a 17-year-old in 2019, but before he could make the switch for his first try, he signed a three-year deal with the NRL’s Newcastle Knights.
His continued success earned him selection for the 2021 World Cup squad and he marked his debut by scoring two tries in a 60-6 win over the Samoans that barely showed the heartache that would follow when the two sides met again later in the tournament.
But that painful exit was put into sharp perspective last year when Young was fatigued by a sinus infection that spread to his brain on his flight back from Australia for the three-match series in Tonga.
Instead of facing Tonga, Young spent weeks in hospital in Leeds and it took several more months before he could fully recover and return home to begin his pre-season training program with his new club in the Australian capital .
“When you’re a professional athlete, you don’t expect things like this to happen to you,” Young added.
“It was definitely a scary time for both me and my family and it took me a long time to recover from it. I felt like I was catching up for a long time.
“But hopefully that’s all in the past now and I’ve been able to get there again without any problems, so I can just focus with the rest of the team on what happened last time.”