Youngs happy to embrace change with England landmark looming
Experienced play-maker is taking nothing for granted in the race to join exclusive 100 club, writes Ben Coles
Technically, Ben Youngs is now a Test rugby centurion. The win over Ireland last weekend was his 98th cap for England, with two further appearances for the British and Irish Lions against Australia in 2013 taking him to triple figures. And yet Youngs is having none of it.
Speaking this week from England’s training base in Oxford, it seems that only once Youngs has reached that landmark for his country – which had been pencilled in for the end of this Six Nations until the coronavirus took hold in Italy – that his achievement will really sink in.
For now, the last thing he wants to do is tempt fate. Mike Phillips ended up stranded on 99 Tests caps for Wales and the Lions. Youngs watched Ireland prop Cian Healy, another so close to a century that he can sniff it, leave the field with an injury at Twickenham. There are no gifts in Test rugby.
“Let’s not go there,” he cautions. “I’m obviously aware of it, but it would be nice to do it just for England.
“It’s strange. Yes, it is there, but equally there are plenty of people who have got near it and something’s got in the way. I was speaking to Cian Healy after the game, injured, and he’s out for the remainder of the Six Nations on 98 caps. I’ll take it week by week.”
Youngs’s future beyond this season remains shrouded in mystery. His contract is set to expire with Leicester and it is impossible to imagine him playing anywhere else, in England anyway, than the club for whom he made his debut as a 17-year-old in 2007. When will we know?
“Soon,” he insists, first smiling, then laughing. “Hoping to stay there. We’ll see. We’ll try and get something sorted.”
For the first time since the win over New Zealand in Yokohama it appeared that England had their swagger back against Ireland, bullying the opposition up front and allowing Youngs to dictate proceedings. Now the task is to replicate that against Wales on Saturday.
“When the team gets on the front foot and the pack get dominance, ultimately as a nine and 10 it makes your life so much easier,” Youngs admits. “I was fortunate that our pack got the ascendency, then you can do what you need to do.”
Will Youngs or Willi Heinz, his rival from Gloucester, get the start? Does it even matter? If Youngs feels so, he is not letting on. The scrum-half role under Eddie Jones has been more a partnership than a hierarchy.
“I’ll do whatever role Eddie wants me to do,” Youngs says. “It’s always been the case since he walked through the door in 2016 that you have two guys as scrum-halves trying to do 80 minutes together to give the team the best chance. The game has changed. It’s so different now. If my role is different, then I have to do that role.”
Now 30, with the right amount of preservation and care, Youngs could play for another five seasons, citing Richard Wigglesworth, still going at 36 for Saracens, and Peter Stringer as recent examples of scrum-halves prolonging their careers.
“I have a huge desire to be here with England,” Youngs says. “I look at some positions and what they go through and think I couldn’t do that, but the professional way things are now, it gives you every opportunity to play the game for longer.
“[Wigglesworth and Stringer] are perfect examples of guys who have looked after themselves physically and mentally and been able to do it for a long time.
“When Eddie came in, he put a huge emphasis on recovery and looking after yourself. Post-training, pre-game and that’s another area I’ve broadened my mind on. Ice baths, saunas, stretching, all those things.
“Also getting away from the game as well, because there’s no denying that when you’re in it with your club or country you need that mental release. All those things add a huge benefit. It’s noticeable over the last few years.”
Yoga, however, has been more of a challenge. “We’re not very flexible. You should see us, we’re a joke. If you go in there you just relax, you can have a laugh watching some of the props hold these poses.”
Who knows what chaos coronavirus will cause to the Six Nations schedule but, for now, England are playing catch-up, on the back foot after that opening defeat in Paris. Antoine Dupont’s performances have certainly grabbed Youngs’s attention, and he claims that the Toulouse superstar is set to revolutionise the position with his vision and powerful running style.
“Dupont is a wonderful player. I really believe he’s like when Will Genia burst on the scene,” he explains.
“For the next decade, he’s going to be magnificent and I think he’s going to change the way scrum-halves play. I admire him, and it’s fantastic to see a guy of his age dominating like he is.”
France, young and lacking experience, but unbeaten and bursting with talent, sit in pole position. Youngs has been in their shoes before, and is happy to lead the chase for the title.
“Looking from here, France are in a good place. All we can do is control what we do, make sure we play well and get the victories.”