FOREVER YOUNGS
Ben dreams of playing in fourth World Cup
BEN YOUNGS has set his sights on defying Father Time and playing for England at the next World Cup.
Youngs, who has appeared in the past three, is set to play his 100th Test against Ireland on Sunday but is one of only three 30-somethings in the squad, along with Courtney Lawes and Willi Heinz.
But after 97 games for England and two for the Lions, the scrum-half is making the eternal Richard Wigglesworth his inspiration to play on at the top level into his sepia years.
“I’m very much set on trying to play for England and be a part of this group. I’m 30 but I still feel like I have a lot to give. Thirty may seem old in rugby terms but, in my position, I still think that is pretty young.
“My desire is to play for England and be a part of the Premiership,” said Youngs.
“I certainly look ahead and think, ‘What do I want to look like in the next four years, the next six years?’ Saracens’ Wigglesworth gives all scrum-halves hope at 36 and Ireland’s Peter Stringer was still playing at 39.
“Guys like that are perfect examples that have had long careers just through looking after themselves and being diligent on the recovery side.
“Playing in our position does help. I look at those forwards and I think, ‘Blimey, how do they deal with what they go through?’ Being scrum-half you are probably in a position where you can be a lot more durable.
“The only thing you can do as a player – which I’ll continue to do – is to have that desire to improve and be better and to be here. As long as I’m doing that then it’s up to Eddie Jones whether that is going to be good enough to be part of it.”
Youngs was dropped from the starting line-up against Scotland a fortnight ago but made a telling impact off the bench.
Ringcraft counts for plenty in his position and he showed plenty of it to direct England through the Murrayfield filth and to the winning post.
Scrumhalf rivals are not exactly shouting from the rooftops and Youngs appears to be part of Jones’s long-term plans.
“He had a difficult
2015 World Cup but he rebounded really well and it means a lot for him to play for England. I don’t think
I’ve seen as passionate a player as him playing for England,” said Jones.
It means a lot to Youngs to play for Leicester too, his only professional club, but whether he does so beyond this season is still to be decided after he was asked to take a pay cut in his next contract. “That’s between me and my agent,” he said.