Youngs pays tribute to power of the pack
ROLLING MAUL HAS PAVED THE WAY FOR MUCH-IMPROVED RESULTS
LEICESTER Tigers captain Tom Youngs paid tribute to his forward pack for helping serve up him and his fellow hookers with a bounty of tries this season.
Charlie Clare’s late effort in the win over Newcastle Falcons was the 10th scored by a Tigers hooker this season, with Youngs rumbling over for four and injured Argentinian international Julian Montoya registering three in four games before suffering his setback.
Other Tigers players have also registered tries off the back of the club’s formidable rolling maul, which has laid the foundations for a muchimproved set of results this term, placing them just eight points off the top four ahead of this Saturday’s switch to European Challenge Cup action against Connaught at the Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
“If you get five metres out, it’s a weapon and it is hard to stop if you get it set up,” said 34-year-old Youngs, who now has 22 tries in 206 Tigers games.
“The hard work we’re putting in behind the scenes results in us getting over the tryline more. Because we’re doing the hard work to each other on a Tuesday and Thursday, why would we not go and do that to the opposition on a Saturday?
“Ultimately, we’re working hard here, we’re seeing the results. As a hooker, we get to reap the reward of it. It goes down as our try, but it’s not. It’s an all-eight try. It’s very good to be a part of.
“What people don’t see is the hard work the guys have to do at the front.
“The front three set them all up. They’re getting hit, their ribs are getting crushed up. They have to take all that – Coley, that’s why he looks so young and youthful.
“Those guys do a lot of work at the front there so we get rewarded with a nice easy try at the end.
“Ultimately, it’s nothing really to do with us, it’s to do with the boys up front.”
Tigers welcomed back England international Ellis Genge for the win over the Falcons, with the loosehead prop impressing in a 69-minute contribution before being replaced by Luan de Bruin.
However, Genge did attract some unwelcome headlines for a prematch exchange with Falcons prop Jon Welsh which required Tigers head coach Steve Borthwick to intervene and separate the two.
Youngs believes the incident has been overhyped by the media.
“I think you guys just love something a little bit different, don’t you?” he said.
“You all get very, very excitable, don’t you? That’s all it was, it was just one of those little things. You’ve got emotion, all the adrenaline going, it’s fine. It was nothing.
“Is he a hard bloke to captain? Not at all. He’s a great bloke. He just wants to do his best for the team.”