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'He's just a f***in legend, I love him to bits'
Ellis Genge has paid tribute to Ben Youngs, his Leicester teammate who is set to become the most capped England of all time when he makes his 115th appearance for his country this Saturday against Wales in the Guinness Six Nations. First capped in 2010, the scrum-half pulled level in Rome with the 114-cap benchmark set by Jason Leonard in 2004.
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Having made that record-equalling run from the England bench in the round two win over Italy, Youngs is now set to be restored to the starting line-up to face the Welsh when Eddie Jones names his team at 11:30am on Thursday.
It will be quite an amazing achievement for the 32-year-old to set the new caps mark and loosehead Genge, who has just 33 caps compared to the centurion, struggled to best sum up the milestone Youngs is about to pass.
“I was just asked about this on the BBC and it took me about ten minutes to answer,” he quipped when asked to best describe Youngs, his England and Leicester pal. “I’ll try and give you as much detail as I can without going on.
“He probably doesn’t give it away. He is a bit different with the press but he is a larger-than-life character, full of energy, always driving standards. Like I said to the BBC, for someone who has done it 115 times, providing the weekend goes ahead, 200-odd times for his club as well, that is over 300-odd senior games not bearing in mind the amateur games – he is just so much fun to be around.
“You think you would get bored of it but he turns up every day with a smile on his face regardless of what he is doing, puts his arm around you and is always pushing you to do your best. I have just got so much respect for the bloke. Honestly, as I said to the last guy, I can’t describe it. I have just got so much respect for the bloke, all the stuff that he sacrificed to achieve what he has achieved in rugby and also the stuff that he gave up which most people would take an arm off for. To stay at home on those Lions tours to support his brother and his family, he’s just a f***in’ legend, I love him to bits. A good guy.”
Youngs’ older brother Tom, a predecessor of Genge as Leicester captain, has taken an indefinite leave from the game to care for his wife Tiffany as she battles serious illness having previously recovered from Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In 2017 Ben withdrew from the Lions squad for New Zealand to support his family and four years later he ruled himself out of contention for South Africa, again to provide assistance to Tom and Tiffany.
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“What explains his longevity? At scrum-half you don’t take too much contact” continued Genge. “Probably that helps. After that, I ain’t going to sit here and tell you he is the most diligent bloke in terms of recovery and does all these secret tricks to make his career long and prosperous. It’s not the case. He’d tell you that himself.
“Ben has always not taken himself too seriously, got his head down, done what he needs to do and then obviously gone above and beyond to achieve his goals just being himself. It’s a good blueprint for anyone else coming through. You don’t have to be a carbon cutout of anyone else, just do your own thing and that hopefully takes you all the way.”
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Yip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
3 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
114 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
1 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
3 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
3 Go to commentsBulls***': Ex-England international calls out Eben Etzebeth… Not to his face but from very far away… after he’d left. Checked to make sure he wasn’t in the building.
114 Go to commentsHopefully this will mean a new Auckland league team to support in the west. Big Warriors fan but it’s very, very stale on that front and I’d like the option of another team if it was to watch league again. League needs to step up BIG time if its to get anywhere, another AK team and something from the capitol or south is a must for the game.
3 Go to commentsGood, deep interview, nice job Frankie!
1 Go to commentsNRL players don’t have anywhere near the number of Tests. Some people would be happy having Rest Homes full if 40 yo ex-players walking, or hobbling more like it, into walls. It’s just a game!
4 Go to commentsNOW Razor is worried about ABs getting injured or overplayed! Didn’t bother him last year. He happily played his AB Crusaders.
4 Go to commentsWhat is the World Rugby U20 players born year.
2 Go to commentsMuch like the Chiefs finally gave up waiting for Atu Moli to ever not be injured, you have to wonder if the Chiefs and Crusaders will let Josh Lord and Ethan Blackadder go next season. They’re being well paid to sit in the injury ward every year. Better off putting those funds towards someone who might actually play.
7 Go to commentsShowed better basic skills than some nz Super sides, who probably would have botched some of those backline moves. This tournament really is too short though. Needs more teams, or have them play two rounds to properly prepare them for the near full-time NH U20 sides.
4 Go to commentsGood grief it’s only six months. Probably just upset it’s not an established kiwi entering their prime they can “project” into green to join the rest.
3 Go to commentsGood player but far from being best in the world. That's an exaggeration. Perhaps Best in world by Northern Hemisphere standards and biasis but certainly not Southern Hemi standards
4 Go to commentsWell one thing about World Cup knock out rounds and Ireland is very clear: they won’t be getting ahead of themselves in ‘27! Because making it beyond the QF is well and truly ‘IN THEIR HEADS’ now…😉
114 Go to comments