Youngs KO a big blow for England
BEN YOUNGS will find out today whether his NatWest 6 Nations campaign is over after his gruesome-looking knee injury clouded an emphatic English victory.
The 28- year- old Leicester scrum-half yelled out in pain when his leg was trapped in the 10th minute, and after a lengthy delay he had to be taken off on a motorised stretcher.
England head coach Eddie Jones is resigned to losing Youngs for Saturday’s match against Wales and is likely to call up Saracens’ 34-year- old Richard Wigglesworth to the squad.
‘Ben will have an examination, so we’ll know more after that,’ he said. ‘He’s unlikely to be available for the Wales game. It’s too early to make any prediction but I’m always optimistic.’
Youngs yesterday equalled Matt Dawson’s England record for the most starts at scrum-half, but scans today may well rule him out of the championship.
Danny Care will take over the No 9 shirt after a 70-minute run-out yesterday.
The day belonged to Sam Simmonds, the 23- year- old Exeter Chief who, aside from two wonderful, quick bursts for tries and a stupendous no-look pass to Jack Nowell for his score, made 23 tackles, carried the ball 14 times making 80 metres and beat six defenders.
Jones hailed his new star, likening him to a World Cupwinning All Black.
‘He’s a good, young lad with a great set of skills,’ he said. ‘Life’s full of contradictions and he’s one of them. He’s a different sort of No 8. He’s like Victor Vito — fast and elusive.
‘If he was a cricketer he’d be playing Twenty20. He’s a bit different — he’s fast and runs good lines. He’s a humble boy who just gets on with it.
‘He’s fitted into the team well. He’s different from Billy (Vunipola) and Nathan (Hughes) and sometimes it takes sides a bit of time to adjust to that, but our adjustment was good.’ Jones was also impressed with his two-try wing Anthony Watson.
‘He got the Maserati out of the car park today,’ he added. ‘You look at him and Jonny May, we’ve got close to probably the quickest wingers in the world. They’re only going to get quicker.’
Jones was also delighted with England’s dominant set-piece in Rome. ‘That was massively positive,’ he said.
‘Our scrum and lineout was absolutely first- class. I don’t think we’ve scrummed as well as that in the time I’ve been in charge. We were completely dominant. When the game broke up at the end we were able to score tries. There was some lovely ball movement.
‘Defensively we made a couple of errors and they were able to capitalise on them but they’re something we can work on and fix. It wasn’t the perfect game, but very positive.
‘At the end of the game we played some lovely rugby.’
England face a rampant Wales at Twickenham next Saturday — and Jones cannot wait.
‘The tournament is only going to get better and we go again at Twickenham. There will be 82,000 people, they’ll be absolutely pumped and we’ll be pumped to play in front of them.’