Leicester stalwart Ben Youngs announces retirement
Youngs, who has 127 caps for his country – an England men's record – and another two for the British & Irish Lions, retired from international duty after the 2023 World Cup, helping Steve Borthwick's side to a third-place finish, but has continued playing for his boyhood club, Leicester Tigers, since.
The 35-year-old spent the entirety of his club career at the Tigers, making his debut in 2007 for the club which also counted his father, Nick, and brother, Tom, among their former players. The scrum-half went on to play a record-equalling 19 seasons at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, winning five Premiership titles.
On Tuesday, Youngs announced the news of his retirement on his podcast, For The Love Of Rugby, which he presents with fellow England and Leicester veteran Dan Cole.
'The time has come to give you some news,' Youngs said as he addresses Tigers fans in a video that was aired on the club's social media channels. 'I'm not going to be the head coach next year, that's not the news. However, I will be finishing at the end of this season.
'It has been amazing, I thank you all. There will be plenty of time to say goodbye, plenty of time to say thanks. There is still a lot of work to be done.
'But with a lot of speculation going on, I just wanted you to be the first to know that this will be my final season. Thank you all, what a really exciting couple of months we have ahead.'
Youngs made his Leicester debut in February 2007 in a friendly against Argentina, which also happened to mark the final Leicester appearance of fellow Tigers legend, Graham Rowntree. Later that season, Youngs became the youngest player to have played in a Premiership match for Leicester - a record he still holds - when he came off the bench against Bristol. The scrum-half also came off the bench in the Tigers' Premiership final victory at the end of the 2006-07 season.
Only club legend David Matthews, with 502 appearances, has managed as many consecutive campaigns at Welford Road as Youngs (19), while the only other player to match Youngs' record across the Premiership is fellow England scrum-half Danny Care, who is currently in the midst of his 19th straight campaign with Harlequins this season.
With England, the scrum-half made his debut in a 10-10 draw against Scotland at Murrayfield as a replacement for Ugo Monye on the wing when Steve Borthwick, who would go on to coach Youngs for both club and country, was captain.
In 2023, Youngs bowed out of the Test arena as one of only five Englishmen to be capped 100 times, in an international career that included four Six Nations titles, including the Grand Slam in 2016, while he also toured with the Lions in 2013. Youngs was once again selected for the 2017 tour but declined the offer of touring for family reasons.
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