YOUNGS RIGHT TO PUT HIS FAMILY FIRST
THE pursuit of sporting excellence can be allembracing. The burning ambition to be the best is what drives the best sportsmen – often at the expense of a perspective on the world around them.
In surrendering his Lions tour place in the most awful of family circumstances, Ben Youngs has shown where sport should stand.
Youngs called Warren Gatland on Saturday evening to inform him of the decision he made last week in the aftermath of the nightmare diagnosis received by his brother Tom’s wife Tiffany.
The cancer that she has been fighting for the past three years could no longer be contained. The illness is terminal.
Everyone who loves sport is guilty, at some point or another, of inflating its importance, of elevating what are, by definition, mere games to matters of life and death.
When real issues of life and death intrude, the mask is pulled away.
To a rugby union player from Britain and Ireland, the Lions are the ultimate – a call-up to join them is an invitation to rugby’s most exclusive club.
Ben Youngs’ selection last month confirmed him as one of the 41 best rugby players from these islands. It was a glittering reward for the blood, sweat and tears he has spilled in pursuit of his goal.
Having been part of the triumphant squad in Australia four years ago, he knows how wonderful a professional experience a Lions tour can be, so to give it all up in one phone call must have been hard.
Yet his wish to be with his brother in his time of need reflects better on him than any act of heroism on a rugby field against the All Blacks could have done.
If rugby’s values revolve around looking out for the man to the side of you, then Ben Youngs has epitomised them with his act of solidarity towards his elder brother.
The pair are close. Having grown up on the family farm in Norfolk, they have spent their adult lives working together at Leicester. They have children the same age. And at this moment, Tom needs him more than the Lions.
The Lions are important in rugby – the pinnacle – but against family, against health, against love, mean nothing.
“We are a very close family and, as I am sure everyone can respect, time is now precious together,” said Youngs, in a statement released by Leicester.
“The most important thing for me at this difficult time is to be able to offer as much support as I can to Tom and his family in the remaining time we all have together.”
Both Youngs brothers intend finishing the Premiership season for their club, but the Lions dream has gone.
“It is a great honour to be selected as a member of the British and Irish Lions squad and I would like to thank Warren Gatland, the staff and the other players for their understanding in this situation,” said Youngs.
“I wish them well and, like all rugby supporters in Britain and Ireland, hope they have a successful tour.”
For Gatland, the loss of Youngs is a blow but the circumstances provided a stark clarity. “We fully understand and respect Ben’s decision to stay at home. Family comes first and I know from having toured with Tom and Ben in 2013 how close they are,” he said.
“This is a difficult and important time for them and we send Ben, Tom and their family our heartfelt thoughts.”
For the Lions, the page has to turn and the coach has moved quickly to call up Scotland scrum-half Greig Laidlaw as Youngs’ replacement.
Laidlaw will join Rhys Webb and Conor Murray, who made his comeback off the bench for Munster against Connacht on Saturday, in the Lions scrum-half stable.
Like Murray, Laidlaw is just getting back into the swing of things after being sidelined since the second round of the Six Nations by an ankle injury. After a couple of replacement appearances for Gloucester, he started in Saturday’s defeat against Exeter. He will have at least one more game – Friday’s European Challenge Cup final against Stade Francais – to bring himself up to speed.