Ben Youngs: 'There's still question marks against England'

Ben Youngs, England’s most-capped male player, is convinced that England will break their record-equalling four-game losing run to Scotland this weekend.

However, there are elements to their game that the scrum-half would like to see develop from last week’s morale-boosting 26-25 win over France.

Looking ahead to Saturday’s match on the For the Love of Rugby podcast that he presents with Dan Cole, Youngs is eager to see how the dynamic between the two Smiths, Fin at 10 and Marcus at 15, plays out against a team that has had the hex on England since 2021.

“The Smiths get another crack at it. I like it because they are going to get another shot at it, and I believe the weather is supposed to be dry so we’ll really get to see the playmaking ability of Marcus in the wider channels and the playmaking and the structural control that Fin Smith can bring at 10.

“We saw a lot of positive things against France, however, we do need to remember that France blew a shedload of opportunities and I think there are still some question marks around England this weekend.

“Scotland is the perfect challenge on the back of France. They (England) got an amazing win, it was fantastic to see, but can England build on this?”

“I expect that England win this weekend, I really think they will, but I want to see how that dynamic of how Smith and Smith works. We saw glimpses of it but we didn’t see loads of it, given how wet the conditions were against France, given how England kicked the ball a lot, and I suspect England will still kick the ball a fair amount.”

The Calcutta Cup game is a special one for Youngs as he made his Test debut in a 15-15 draw at Murrayfield in 2010. The 35-year-old, who won 127 caps for his country before retiring post-RWC 2023, was only on the losing side three times in 13 appearances against Scotland and he reckons England will win back the Calcutta Cup.

One source of his confidence comes from the selection of Ollie Chessum in the second row ahead of another of his Leicester teammates, George Martin, for his first start in the last 12 months. The change of Leicester locks is the only difference between the XV that took to the field last week and this weekend’s line-up.

Youngs believes Chessumm who is equally at home in the back row, will have the legs to get around the Allianz Park pitch and negate Scotland’s wide game.

“Ollie Chessum comes in for George Martin. Why would that be?,” pondered Youngs, who has been a breath of fresh air to the world of punditry.

“England’s lineout hasn’t been that functional. You could argue and say some of that is because of the back-row selection, we’ve gone for more dynamic, shorter back-rowers, putting sevens at sixes, sevens to eights and eights to sevens, mixing it all around.

“Essentially, it has hurt our lineout. Tom Willis is a lineout option, who will make a difference, and made a difference against France, But Ollie Chessum in my opinion is probably the best lineout forward that England has.

“He is incredibly athletic, covers the air very, very quickly, gets up there, but will also put lineout pressure on Scotland, of course.

“The other reason why Ollie Chessum got the nod, I would say, apart from the fact he is an extremely good player is Scotland like to go multiphase, they like to move the ball around and try and spread it, get the edges, so he covers the ground really well.

“Ches, he is a great athlete so, defensively, he will also help with the way that he covers. George Martin is probably a bit more of the old-school lock, a bit more of a brute, brilliant at collisions but all around the tight whereas Ches will help in terms of covering the ground a little bit more especially if Scotland go five/six phases or so.”