‘The guy is a grub’: Ex-Wallaby challenges Waratah to fight after son’s injury, denies racial slur

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Former Wallaby Sam Scott-Young has challenged Waratahs forward Miles Amatosero to a fight in a social media rant, and used a term regarded by many as a racial slur, after the NSW lock was suspended for a training punch-up that left Scott-Young’s son Angus with a fractured eye socket.

Angus Scott-Young suffered the nasty injury after being punched five times by Amatosero in a Waratahs pre-season training session two weeks ago. Rugby Australia and the Waratahs subsequently slapped Amatosero with a suspension of at least two games.

Footage of the incident emerged on Saturday and showed Amatosero punching Scott-Young three times on the ground, and then twice more after the pair got to their feet and Scott-Young appeared to walk towards Amatosero and raise his fists.

Sam Scott-Young’s comments came in response to another former Wallaby, Drew Mitchell, who posted a comment under the footage on the Instagram page of Code Sports, where some of the skirmish appeared to be cropped out.

“If you’re going to post the footage, post the entire clip.. play on! Both players wanted it, one got it!!” Mitchell posted.

Sam Scott Young playing for the Wallabies in 1992.

Sam Scott-Young, who played seven Tests for the Wallabies between 1990 and 1992, fired back at Mitchell and also challenged Amatosero to a fight, labelling him a “prick” and “fresh off the boat”, which is perceived by many as a racial slur.

Amatosero has Nigerian heritage on his father’s side.

The comment reads: “Hey Drew, keep your head out of this conversation. You’re [a] back. We don’t need your comment. It does get heated up in the engine room but no one punches someone on the ground and I would like to ask that fresh off the boat to call me if you’d like to fight real happy to accommodate no one does a rubber punch on anyone. I don’t give a much that is my son. I do give a lot that the fact is that the code is broken if you can do a rubbish hole like that that prick should be gone and I’m happy to take him out. Regards Sam Scott-Young.”

Contacted about the post on Sunday, Scott-Young confirmed he was the author and doubled down on his offer to fight Amatosero – and his father – and also said the Waratahs lock should be sacked by Rugby Australia boss Phil Waugh.

“The bottom line is, this guy is a grub,” Scott-Young said. “He is a cheap shot merchant, and he should be sacked from the NSW Waratahs. Phil Waugh should kick him out of the game.

Miles Amatosero limbering up for Waratahs training in Sydney.

“No one hits someone on the ground. That’s a grub shot. I agree with Danny Green, that should be in the same category as a cheap shot on the street.

“I have had it done to me, Angus has had it done to him, and you don’t forget those ones because they’re unfair, they’re cheap. It shows what kind of weak person he is.

“I want the guy out of the game. But I call him out to a charity fight any day of the week. Him and his father, I will take them both on.”

Asked if he was aware “fresh off the boat” is regarded by many to be a racial slur, Scott-Young said he believed it to be a joke and it wasn’t intended to be derogatory.

The Instagram comments of Drew Mitchell and Sam Scott-Young.

“No, I am certainly unaware of that,” he said. “It is not a racial slur, it is a joke. They call themselves that. I have great mates in New Zealand, a lot of Maori mates, ex-All Blacks. We all joke around. It is not a racial slur. It is a joke we have between Australia and New Zealand.”

Scott-Young’s social media comments about Amatosero were widely distributed among Australian rugby players and officials on Sunday.

They will likely inflame tensions further at the Waratahs, where the episode has caused fractures in team harmony just three weeks out from the start of the Super Rugby season.

Amatosero and Angus Scott-Young have not trained together since the incident, with the latter recovering from injury in Sydney, and Amatosero with the Waratahs at a training camp in Mudgee last week.

Amatosero will be suspended for the Waratahs’ two trial games against Queensland and the Brumbies but, pending completion of counselling and education courses, will be available for round one against Queensland on February 13 at Allianz Stadium. Scott-Young is also hopeful he will be available for selection in round one, pending specialist clearance.

Sam Scott-Young, who famously winked at the haka in a Bledisloe Cup match in 1992, is no stranger to controversy. In 2023, he was forced to apologise for making homophobic comments while on stage as a guest speaker at a Queensland Rugby Union luncheon, in front of 700 guests.