Youngs plotting revenge for 2015 exit to Wallabies
“It is a great rivalry, not just rugby but the Ashes as well”
FOUR years after Australia’s surprise attack ejected England from the last World Cup, Ben Youngs has warned the Wallabies that the tables could be turned in Oita on Saturday.
Yesterday’s routine victory by Wales over Uruguay clinched first place in Pool D — and ensured there will be an Ashes showdown in the quarter-finals here.
England have plenty of time to prepare for their latest encounter with Michael Cheika’s side, after their match against France was cancelled, which should mean they aren’t caught cold again.
At Twickenham in 2015, England didn’t know what hit them as Australian wizardry condemned them to a 33-13 defeat which sealed a pool-stage exit from their own tournament.
Ben Youngs is one of the survivors from that grim ordeal and the Leicester scrum-half vividly recalls a sense of shock in the English ranks after Bernard Foley had scored a stunning second try for the visitors that day, after stunning inter-play with Kurtley Beale.
‘That was one where they came up with a play we had never seen before. Foley comes around and plays back inside,’ said Youngs. ‘You think they are going to do one thing and they do something completely different. That is why I think we have to be “on it” against Australia.’
Asked if England are capable of responding in kind this time, by unleashing some surprise attacks of their own, Youngs added: ‘Yeah. To be honest, we haven’t shown a huge amount in any of our games. Against USA and Tonga we kept it pretty low-key.
‘Against Argentina, we had a bit more in the playbook but again didn’t need to show our hand. We will make sure we are ready to go and have things we haven’t had to use yet.’
No England player has ever made as many Test appearances against Australia as Youngs, who has faced them 13 times. In fact, the 30-year-old has faced them more times than he has faced any other nation. So he is more qualified than anyone else in the Red Rose camp to assess what the Wallabies have to offer — and where they can be vulnerable.
‘Australia are very clever in how they attack,’ he said, ahead of England’s move from their temporary training base in Miyazaki up to Beppu today. ‘They’re smart. You think they are going to do one thing and they do different. I have always found them challenging in that respect.
‘I like the way they play with an attacking mindset — off the back of that you always get chances when they do play. They always have things up their sleeve that you don’t expect so it is important that we prepare for that.
‘It is always big whenever you play Australia. It always has been. It is a great rivalry, not just rugby but the Ashes as well. Whenever you play the Aussies, you want to do it (beat them) if you are English and vice versa. It bodes well for a great game.’
England will be clear favourites on Saturday, on the basis of recent history. Since Eddie Jones has been in charge, his team have beaten his compatriots six times out of six. They went Down Under and earned a 3-0 series whitewash in 2016. They would appear to have a firm psychological hold over the Wallabies, but Youngs is wary of finding positive omens in those past glories, even though they are still fresh in the memory.
‘It is important you don’t believe your own hype as a side and don’t think about what happened when you played each other before,’ he said. ‘You have the belief and know that certain areas of the game are strong against them. It gives you belief but we won’t read too much into it. We have to just make sure that we keep level-headed about it and don’t rely on what has happened before — thinking that will be enough, it won’t be.’
Having had their final Pool C fixture against France called off due to the untimely arrival of Typhoon Hagibis, England will be going into their quarter-final on the back of a two-week break, following the emphatic victory over Argentina in Tokyo on October 5. Youngs was adamant that the pre-tournament training programme and fixtures meant there is no danger of his teammates being ‘under-cooked’.
He opted to sidestep Cheika’s jibe about a weight of expectation on the English to win, after being granted a long break. Australia’s head coach and Jones are former team-mates and regular sparring partners. Youngs said: ‘I think him and Eddie will be quite entertaining throughout the week so I will leave it to those two! From our point of view, yes we are here and we have an opportunity to prep. We will do that.
‘We can’t control what Australia are doing and they can’t control what we do. We just have to make sure we do everything we can to put us in a great position next week. I will leave the two coaches at it and watch from afar!’