No One Player Symbolises The New England Better Than Ben Youngs

The Leicester and England scrum-half has improved immensely under Eddie Jones this year, writes Lee Calvert.

England’s amazing year finally comes to an end undefeated. There is still much to work on – the front row, attacking decision making, and the structured defence in the backs to name a few – but for now England fans can simply enjoy the victories and the transformation. In the England ranks, no-one demonstrates this enjoyment and transformation more than Ben Youngs.

Until a year ago, Ben Youngs had an international career that followed every cliché in the promising young England player book: he burst onto the scene looking like a potential world beater, lost a bit of form, was dropped, then brought back in, but indecisively handled by management; everyone shakes their head at what could have been. Twas ever thus. His star dropped so catastrophically that at one point Northampton’s Lee Dickson was selected ahead of him.

A year ago, with this history and with the likes of Joe Simpson in red hot form for Wasps, it was expected  Jones, the uber-pacey-attack-minded coach, would gently move on from the Leicester half.  Nothing could be further from the truth as Youngs was quickly established as his undisputed number one in the nine shirt and set about righting the listing ship that was his international career.

Jones makes ridiculous statements, it’s what he does. One of the more ridiculous statements early in his reign was that the England squad were 30% fitter within about a week of them being in his first camp.  While this was clearly an absurd overstatement, the players do look in better shape; none more so that Youngs, who previously had a tendency to look like he was no stranger to the cake trolley. His renewed zip around the fringes is no coincidence.

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In previous seasons Youngs’ greatest affliction was his speed of service. His pass could usually be described as: Here. Is. The.  Ball. I. Am. Going. To. Pass. It. Now. Here. I. Go. Passing. The. Ball. The. Ball. Is. Being. Passed. Right. Now. See. The. Ball. Leave. My. Hands. Not ideal for an international scrum half. This, combined with his tendency to do the two-step crab shuffle before passing, made for some gruesomely frustrating, soul-splintering viewing for fans and coaching staff alike. Jones has stamped this out almost completely and the ball comes out quick, straight from the floor to the grateful hands of George Ford.

The highlight of Youngs’ performance in the victory over Australia at the weekend was his magnificent dummy for his try, where he sold not only the whole shop but a 1000-year lease on the building to not one but three Wallabies defenders. It was the perfect expression of how far he has come under Eddie Jones. He is oozing confidence and dynamism where before he was like a congealed pulp of indecision – passing glacially, kicking poorly and shovelling rubbish.

Not only are his core scrum-half skills a world better than a year ago, but at Twickenham he also showed leadership. The appalling start made by England would, in previous times, be whipped from minor broken eggs into a giant meringue of failure, but Youngs did not allow this to happen. Instead, the newfound belief inspired by the confidence shown in him from day one by his coach saw him take the game by the scruff of the neck and use his influence to drag England back into the match via calm and well-executed box kicking and mashalling of his forwards.

Eddie Jones still has many things to keep him thinking with his England project. It is testament to both his ability and that of Ben Youngs that the matter of who should start at scrum-half is not one of them.