Newcastle Falcons lock Luke Coulston is determined to prove his doubters wrong and continue as a professional rugby player.
The 18-year-old has been with his boyhood club Newcastle since the age of 14 and at the end of last season earned himself a senior contract.
After enduring an early season neck injury, Coulston made his Newcastle debut in the Premiership Cup in an away victory over Leicester Tigers earlier this month.
Coulston, who is 6ft 7ins and weighs 15st, has had his naysayers who have questioned his aspirations but he says that just adds extra motivation.
He said: “People often say that I can't do it. When people ask what I want to do, I say I want to be a professional rugby player and they reply saying ‘no but realistically what do you want to do?'
“I'd like to go as far as I possibly can playing rugby. The people that say that to me are probably jealous of me doing well. Every time I play, I play as if there's someone in the crowd that's never seen me play before and I try to put on a show.
“In the U18s league they decided to make me captain and I had a good season which ended with them offering me a contract which was massive for me considering people have been saying you can't do it. That was the first step to proving everybody wrong.”
Coulston is currently studying at Newcastle University playing in the BUCS Premier 1 league and has his sights set on achieving promotion to Super BUCS this season.
He said: “It's a good standard and I really like the company of the lads. It's not just on the pitch where there's a good bond it's off the pitch as well which I find really important.
“When you know the lads and are playing with your mates then you play a lot better. It's fast free-flowing rugby in the league which I enjoy. Hopefully I can help the uni to promotion this season.”
Coulston represented the England U18s in the summer in a match against France and the Cumbria-born and raised forward enjoyed mixing and learning off new people.
He said: “Where I'm from in Cumbria it's quite isolated, so meeting new people with different backgrounds is really interesting. It was riveting to mix with players that have totally different playing styles to the Falcons and learn how they do things.”
BT Sport commentator Austin Healey said during the London Irish v Gloucester broadcast last Friday that young players shouldn't join academies and instead should do an apprenticeship or go to university, a comment that Coulston strongly disagrees with.
Coulston said: “It's not incorrect but I don't agree with the comments at all because you've got to have young talent coming through.
“Chandler Cunningham-South who is at London Irish is a good example of that because he's young and is having a great season so far. If young people can make a living out of something they enjoy, then it shouldn't ever be discouraged.”
