Perhaps we don’t appreciate it but the player in the current England set-up who most divides opinion, is from Leicester. The number of times that I have seen Tigers fans leap to the defence of Ben Youngs, I could not possibly count. Why does he attract the hate-mongers in so great a quantity?
Agreed. Ben Youngs has the best all round game of any English scrum half of the last 10 years. He clearly can quickly adapt to a game plan and new no.8s and no.10s. For example, Danny Care has always been an xciting player on the front foot but does not possess the same kicking game and makes more errors when under pressure.
Personally I just ignore other fans comments, Quins fans think Cares the dogsbs Bristol fans like wise with Randall and Sales handful think Quirke.
Most of us at Tigers still rate Lenny and hopefully JVP will follow.
A lot of social media posters don't fully understand the game anyway.
Scrum half has to assess the situation and then take the right option and only has a splt second to do it. If kicking the leather off it is the right option so be it.
You’re right, when Randall was in there was more pace, but no outcome! Simply running around doesn’t achieve anything, Randall is a 1 trick pony, similarly Smith functions in a particular environment, no necessarily the England team. I’ve seen nothing from either that merits the plaudits the media, and in particular Ugo Monye heap on them! Shiny, bright and new yes, Better? I don’t think so
Chris, I don’t think it’s a case of kicking vs sniping and style of play when it comes to criticism of Youngs’ play. It is how slow his delivery is from the base of a ruck. As a tigers fan, for a long time I stood by him because when he’s at his best, Leicester (and England) are unstoppable. He’s always been a barometer of how well the team plays.
But the criticism among proper rugby fans and the podcasts is that his delivery is so slow and hesitant and his good game to poor game ratio has gone from 1:1 to more like 1:5.
One abiding memory for me is from the World Cup final where someone can be heard on the refs mic, after they’ve run a line but the ball has hasn’t been moved from the ruck, shouting “pass the f***ing ball”.
It’s also not a case of the shiny young things being better than Youngs, that’s a lazy view of the criticism of him. I think many would agree that the best 9 in England is Danny Care, older than Youngs but just a worse bloke. Similarly Ben Spencer is in his late 20s, a player with a similar game to Youngs but with a far superior pass. Then you move on to Randall, Mitchell and Quirke who are different, with Mitchell perhaps the most like Youngs and again a player offering quicker service with better passing.
Hi Chris, Ben's game has changed over the years from snipping to mainly kicking! But this is almost certainly down to how the coaches (Eng & Tigs) want it! All scrum halves lose their zip as the years go by but gain experience to cover this! Well done to him on equalling the record but the young bucks are snapping at his heals & the press are only interested in new blood! So getting to the terrace on Fri night I tuned my radio into Radio Leics FM & Reggae was blasting out!!! What happened? I thought it was all sorted & home games would be broadcast on ALL frequencies! This was the biggest game of the season for fans & the club & quite frankly it's a disgrace that Radio Leicester couldn't be arsed to put it out on FM!! Rant over maybe chat on the bus before the next match!
Maybe I've just missed it, but I'm actually quite disappointed with ITV/BBC coverage of Ben Youngs. Maybe it'll come more next weekend, but Ben has equalled/likely to break a long-standing record in the England mens team. A pretty big record at that and very little has been said about it. It should be promoted into the main stream, not just rugby.
Agreed. Ben Youngs has the best all round game of any English scrum half of the last 10 years. He clearly can quickly adapt to a game plan and new no.8s and no.10s. For example, Danny Care has always been an xciting player on the front foot but does not possess the same kicking game and makes more errors when under pressure.
Personally I just ignore other fans comments, Quins fans think Cares the dogsbs Bristol fans like wise with Randall and Sales handful think Quirke.
Most of us at Tigers still rate Lenny and hopefully JVP will follow.
A lot of social media posters don't fully understand the game anyway.
Scrum half has to assess the situation and then take the right option and only has a splt second to do it. If kicking the leather off it is the right option so be it.
The game is more than just about flowing rugby.
Ben has undoubtedly been one of England's best 9's of all time, that video meerly confirms what we Tigers already knew.
Spot on the money there Chris
You’re right, when Randall was in there was more pace, but no outcome! Simply running around doesn’t achieve anything, Randall is a 1 trick pony, similarly Smith functions in a particular environment, no necessarily the England team. I’ve seen nothing from either that merits the plaudits the media, and in particular Ugo Monye heap on them! Shiny, bright and new yes, Better? I don’t think so
Chris, I don’t think it’s a case of kicking vs sniping and style of play when it comes to criticism of Youngs’ play. It is how slow his delivery is from the base of a ruck. As a tigers fan, for a long time I stood by him because when he’s at his best, Leicester (and England) are unstoppable. He’s always been a barometer of how well the team plays.
But the criticism among proper rugby fans and the podcasts is that his delivery is so slow and hesitant and his good game to poor game ratio has gone from 1:1 to more like 1:5.
One abiding memory for me is from the World Cup final where someone can be heard on the refs mic, after they’ve run a line but the ball has hasn’t been moved from the ruck, shouting “pass the f***ing ball”.
It’s also not a case of the shiny young things being better than Youngs, that’s a lazy view of the criticism of him. I think many would agree that the best 9 in England is Danny Care, older than Youngs but just a worse bloke. Similarly Ben Spencer is in his late 20s, a player with a similar game to Youngs but with a far superior pass. Then you move on to Randall, Mitchell and Quirke who are different, with Mitchell perhaps the most like Youngs and again a player offering quicker service with better passing.
Hi Chris, Ben's game has changed over the years from snipping to mainly kicking! But this is almost certainly down to how the coaches (Eng & Tigs) want it! All scrum halves lose their zip as the years go by but gain experience to cover this! Well done to him on equalling the record but the young bucks are snapping at his heals & the press are only interested in new blood! So getting to the terrace on Fri night I tuned my radio into Radio Leics FM & Reggae was blasting out!!! What happened? I thought it was all sorted & home games would be broadcast on ALL frequencies! This was the biggest game of the season for fans & the club & quite frankly it's a disgrace that Radio Leicester couldn't be arsed to put it out on FM!! Rant over maybe chat on the bus before the next match!
Maybe I've just missed it, but I'm actually quite disappointed with ITV/BBC coverage of Ben Youngs. Maybe it'll come more next weekend, but Ben has equalled/likely to break a long-standing record in the England mens team. A pretty big record at that and very little has been said about it. It should be promoted into the main stream, not just rugby.
BBC Radio Leicester Sports twitter account being one of the guilty parties to ignore the red roses who've been capped more. TWICE!