Ben Youngs

Benjamin Ryder Youngs (born 5 September 1989) is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half for Leicester Tigers and England.

Ben Youngs was born 5 September 1989 in Norwich, England. His older brother Tom Youngs is also a rugby player, for Leicester Tigers as a hooker. His father Nick Youngs played scrum-half for both Leicester and England.

Youngs made his Leicester Tigers first team début on 11 February 2007 in a friendly match against Argentina at Welford Road, the match marked Graham Rowntree's final Leicester appearance. On 24 April 2007 at the age of 17 years and 231 days he became Leicester's youngest ever player used in a league match when he came off the bench against Bristol. Later that season, he played in the final of the 2006–07 Guinness Premiership.

Youngs played 10 games for Leicester in the 2007-08 season, principally whilst Harry Ellis was injured. Despite starting only 2 games, but featuring in 17, Youngs finished third in the 2008–09 Guinness Premiership Discovery of the Season award and won the club's player's young player of the year award.

Youngs was instrumental in Leicester's 22–17 defeat of the Springboks in a tour match on 6 November 2009 kicking 17 points. He was able to establish himself as first choice in 2009-10 season starting 23 games. In February 2010, Youngs signed a new contract. His team-mates voted him Leicester Tigers Player of the Season for 2009/10. In a season littered with awards, he also picked up the Landrover Discovery of the Season award. He crowned off the season by playing in the 2009-10 Guinness Premiership final victory over Saracens.

Youngs has also played in losing Premiership finals in 2011 and 2012, as well as starting in the 2013 final where Leicester defeated Northampton to seal their 10th English championship.

On 8 April 2017 in a game against Bath at Twickenham Youngs made his 200th appearance for Leicester. Following Leicester's home game with Newcastle Youngs was presented with an engraved silver picture frame in recognition of the feat.

England

Youngs has played for England U-16, U-18 and in March 2008 was a member of the England under-20 team that won the grand slam. Later that month, Youngs made his debut for the England Sevens team at the Hong Kong sevens. Youngs played in the final of both the 2008 IRB Junior World Championship. and 2009 IRB Junior World Championship. He was selected for the revised England Saxons Squad on 13 January 2010, and upgraded to the revised Senior Squad as injury cover for Harry Ellis on 25 January 2010. Later that month, he made his debut for the England Saxons, against Ireland A.

He made his senior England debut as a substitute on the wing for the injured Ugo Monye in the Calcutta Cup match against Scotland on 13 March 2010, and was an unused replacement in the match against France. He continued as part of the senior squad on their tour of Australia, and played in both Test matches.

Youngs made his first international start in England's 21 – 20 win over Australia in Sydney, on 19 June 2010. He played an important role in improving the England gameplan in the game, and scored a solo try in the first half. On 13 November 2010, Youngs was awarded man of the match award for his outstanding performance against Australia. Youngs continued to be a steadfast member of the England squad, including call ups for the 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cups.

After Eddie Jones replaced Stuart Lancaster as England head coach after the 2015 RWC, Youngs continued to play a crucial role in the England squad, being one of two ever-present scrum halves, along with Danny Care. Youngs played in all but one (vs Uruguay) of England's record breaking run of 18 unbeaten matches, starting 15 of them.

British & Irish Lions

In April 2013, he was announced as one of three scrum halves for the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia alongside Mike Phillips and Conor Murray. He made 2 capped appearances, off the bench for the first test in Brisbane, and then starting the second test in Melbourne alongside his brother Tom Youngs. He also made uncapped appearances against 5 provincial sides, scoring 2 tries.

Youngs was again selected as one of the three scrum halves in April 2017 for the 2017 British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, alongside previous tourist Conor Murray and newcomer Rhys Webb, with Leicester Tigers team mate Dan Cole also being selected again.

On 6 May 2017, Youngs withdrew himself from the tour party due to family reasons and was replaced by Scotland international Greig Laidlaw.

International tries

Try	Opposing team	Location	Venue	Competition	Date	Result	Score
1	Australia	Sydney, Australia	ANZ Stadium	2010 England rugby union tour of Australasia	000000002010-06-19-000019 June 2010	Win	21 – 20
2	Argentina	Dunedin, New Zealand	Otago Stadium	2011 Rugby World Cup	000000002011-09-10-000010 September 2011	Win	13 - 9
3	Romania	Dunedin, New Zealand	Otago Stadium	2011 Rugby World Cup	000000002011-09-24-000024 September 2011	Win	67 - 3
4	Ireland	London, England	Twickenham Stadium	2012 Six Nations	000000002012-03-17-000017 March 2012	Win	30 - 9
5	South Africa	Johannesburg, South Africa	Coca-Cola Park	2012 mid-year rugby union internationals	000000002012-06-16-000016 June 2012	Loss	27 - 36
6	South Africa	Johannesburg, South Africa	Coca-Cola Park	2012 mid-year rugby union internationals	000000002012-06-16-000016 June 2012	Loss	27 - 36
7	New Zealand	Hamilton, New Zealand	Waikato Stadium	2014 mid-year rugby union internationals	000000002014-06-21-000021 June 2014	Loss	13 - 36
8	Italy	London, England	Twickenham Stadium	2015 Six Nations	000000002015-02-14-000014 February 2015	Win	47 - 17
9	France	London, England	Twickenham Stadium	2015 Six Nations	000000002015-03-21-000021 March 2015	Win	55 - 35
10	France	London, England	Twickenham Stadium	2015 Six Nations	000000002015-03-21-000021 March 2015	Win	55 - 35
11	Wales	London, England	Twickenham Stadium	2016 mid-year rugby union internationals	000000002016-05-29-000029 May 2016	Win	27 - 13
12	Australia	Brisbane, Australia	Suncorp Stadium	2016 England tour of Australia	000000002016-06-11-000011 June 2016	Win	39 - 28
13	Australia	London, England	Twickenham Stadium	2016 Autumn International	000000002016-12-03-00003 December 2016	Win	37 - 21
14	Wales	Cardiff, Wales	Millennium Stadium	2017 Six Nations	000000002017-02-11-000011 February 2017	Win	21 - 16