Ben Youngs set for England caps record: 2010 debutant to make 115th appearance
The Leicester Tiger has played under three different head coaches in Martin Johnson, Stuart Lancaster and Eddie Jones.
Ben Youngs will become England’s most capped men’s player when he surpasses Jason Leonard’s milestone of 114 appearances in Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations match against Wales at Twickenham.
Here, the PA news agency looks at the career of a Red Rose great.
Ever-present
When Youngs made his debut in 2010 as a fresh-faced 21-year-old replacement against Scotland, Martin Johnson was in charge of England, Jonny Wilkinson was still operating at fly-half and Steve Borthwick acted as captain. The Leicester Tiger has played under three different head coaches in Johnson, Stuart Lancaster and Eddie Jones and has been first choice scrum-half for the vast majority of his 12 years as an international. A highly popular player within the squad, Youngs has also been one of Jones’ most trusted and influential lieutenants on the pitch.
In exalted company
Snapping at the heels
When England have performed poorly under Jones and the head coach has indicated a changing of the guard is looming, Youngs is typically among the first names to be suggested for the cull. Yet he has shown remarkable resilience to see off all pretenders to his throne as he consistently proves his status as England’s pre-eminent scrum-half. Danny Care, Richard Wigglesworth, Lee Dickson and Willi Heinz are among the competition seen off, while Harry Randall and Raffi Quirke are the latest threats to his control of the jersey. Both are faster and more dynamic options, most notably in open play, but are at the start of their careers and lack Youngs’ proven reliability as a decision-maker.
Future prospects
