TIME OF MY LIFE
But Ben does not blame late bus farce for World Cup flop
THE last time Ben Youngs took a bus ride to a rugby match it ended badly for him, for England and for a nation’s World Cup dream.
As he boards the Leicester team coach to Northampton today, his mind will flick back four Saturdays to the stress of arriving 25 minutes late for the biggest match of his life.
England are loath to blame heavy traffic on the road to Yokohama for being smashed by South Africa in a World Cup final they were favourites to win.
But it made them late for the coin toss, at which Owen Farrell cut a confused figure, and meant the players having to rush their warm-up routines.
“When we arrived at the stadium everything was just pushed a little bit,” said Youngs. “A bit sooner, a bit tighter. I like to go out on the pitch beforehand and walk around. I didn’t get the chance to do that.
“On the bus I had some good tunes on, I was all right. I didn’t personally notice anyone getting agitated. Look, some lads needed to move about and get moving. It was one of those things.”
Waiting for England to come out on to the pitch, former Red Rose star Paul Grayson asked if the game had been delayed.
“I was astonished that they were late,” he said. “Things go wrong but I don’t understand how they could be that late for a World Cup final.”
Youngs says it would be “clutching at straws” to claim the episode had a knock-on effect, yet to this day he has no explanation for the 32-12 rout.
“I don’t think it was the occasion,” he said. “Everyone was in a good place beforehand. We had clarity, we knew how we wanted to play.We knew we didn’t want to get into an arm wrestle with South Africa…but we did and couldn’t get out of it.
“You can deal with a few uncharacteristic mistakes from one bloke but when they add up across the board – one from him, one from him – it has a domino effect.
“I don’t agree with Warren Gatland that we played our final against New Zealand. I felt we were unbelievably well prepared. I didn’t feel there was any complacency. I was speaking to my wife about it. She asked if I would change anything. I wouldn’t.”
Eddie Jones has since said he should not have kept an unchanged team from the
All Blacks win and has threatened to change up to 30 per cent of the squad ahead of the Six Nations.
The first part Youngs says is “just Eddie searching for answers, like we all are”.
As for changes, he said: “It’s a good way of making sure we all put our best foot forward and perform.”