"Ultimate send off" – Ben Youngs: England's most capped men's player eyes Premiership title before rugby retirement

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England’s most capped men’s player and Leicester Tigers club legend Ben Youngs, has made the decision to end his illustrious career at the end of the 2024/25 Premiership season. With Leicester sat in second place, and with a spot in the play-offs looking likely, we could be looking at the storybook ending for one of the all time great scrum halves.

Youngs confirmed his desire to hang up his boots earlier this week, with the hopes of an ultimate send-off on the cards for a handful of Welford Road stalwarts. Youngs, Handre Pollard and Julian Montoya are all set to depart their East Midlands second home come the end of the season, with Youngs backing his side to make the most of this end of an era. The man affectionately known around Leicester as ‘Lenny’ put his point across in a simple yet effective statement; “It’s showtime!”

“I think that ultimate send off as an ultimate prize.” Youngs said to Ruck. “I’ve been obsessed about that whether it’s the first year or my 19th season. We, like every club set out at the beginning of the season to go and achieve certain things. This club has got a huge expectation in history. Every year, our expectation is to be there (play offs) and be amongst it. Now, we haven’t always done that.

“Some years we’ve hugely under achieved and under delivered. But now, with (Michael) Cheika and his one year plan and goal, you’ve got Handre Pollard leaving Julian Montoya and other guys leaving, and myself retiring – that heightens the obsession a little bit more within the group.

“I think as individuals, you list those names there, those guys are winners and obsessive winners, and you look at Cheika, he is exactly that. I don’t feel an extra burden or pressure to go win it (the Premiership), because that’s what I’ve set out to do this year anyway.

“If we don’t get it right, there’s so many good teams and we’ll miss out, and that’s it. I won’t get another shot of it. It makes you aware of that, but I don’t feel daunted, I feel like ‘let’s go’. It’s this time of year, It’s showtime! In this time of year, you need your big players to step up.”

With a record-setting 127 senior England men’s caps and 332 Leicester Tigers appearances and counting, longevity has always been a strong-suit for the legendary halfback. Leicester head coach Michael Cheika was asked whether Youngs had a secret recovery plan, or perhaps a magical fountain that has allowed the 35-year-old to play with the exuberance that his surname suggests.

Cheika expressed how Youngs has the most important quality that a player needs, if they want to strive at the top of professional rugby for a long and decorated career. An undeniable love for the sport, which is the skill that cannot be taught, has driven Youngs to push through the hardships of the past 18 years.

“He loves playing, simple as that.” Cheika said. “The guy loves competing, loves playing. It’s not more complicated than that. You can see it makes him so competitive, he loves his club. He loved playing for his country as well. There’s a lot of things that you guys would never see that Ben’s doing around the academy, or going to schools and do appearances for the club.

“He take the club’s name into the county, or wherever it might be. He loves the game, you can see now that he’s got his podcast and all that it’s talking about the game, because he loves it. That’s why he’s good at it.”

“I agree with that.” Youngs said. “I’m a pretty relaxed character, I like to have a laugh, but as soon as I step over that line, I can flick the switch really, really quickly. It drives Julian Montoya actually insane, because he gets so frustrated that I can be having a laugh one minute and then be so serious and on it the next. I guess it’s just a trait I have. Cheiks is right, I love the Saturdays, I love the game, I love competing. I love the goal of trying to achieve something together.”

Youngs then expressed how it was the intensity of the training week, that has forced his hand to call time upon his career. The icon of the East Midlands shared how he was close to hanging up the boots at the end of last season, but it was Cheika that encouraged the number nine to stay for another 12 months. Youngs would play for the rest of his life if his contract only included match days, as it was a tough call to finally step away from the pitch at Welford Road.

“The thing that made me realize the decision, is that I can’t give what it (professional rugby) deserves. The five, six days leading up to the Saturday. There’s no contract for someone that rolls out just on a Saturday. That would be insane. To do what we do, it has to come from a passion and a love and an enjoyment, and sometimes you’ve got to find it.

“There’s been moments in my career where things haven’t been going well, we haven’t been performing. But you’ve still got to find that inner desire and burning sensation to go and achieve and get after it. I’ve just always had that, but it comes back to doing something you love and doing it with your mates.”

Whilst Youngs certainly has an end in sight to his professional career, the scrum half quipped how he would not turn down an invitation for a one-off return here and there. Youngs represented the Barbarians in a 2024 Summer battle against Fiji at Twickenham, with the door left ajar for a return to the famous black and white stripes.

“I’m stopping. I said on the podcast, something like, ‘I’m retired from professional rugby’ because me and Coley (Dan Cole) we might do the Dubai 10s or Hong Kong 10s and things like that!” Youngs joked. “I don’t want to completely wave my flag. There may be a few invitational games. I can have a little trot around in and have a good social. But yes, professionally, I’m done.”

Youngs has an immense list of on-field accolades from his time at Leicester, England and his 2013 Lions call-up. With a medal collection that would rival Michael Phelps, Youngs boasts a decorated career that includes five Premiership titles, four Six Nations Championships, three Anglo-Welsh Cups, and a silver and bronze medal from the 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cups.

Having experienced the bright lights of the grandest stage so many times, Youngs was asked to identify the best players and coaches he’d ever played alongside or lined-up against. Name-checking all from Owen Farrell to Aaron Smith, Eddie Jones and his current boss Cheika, Youngs’ memoirs were rattled off like a red-carpet roll call for rugby’s finest.

“Cheiks definitely. I’m not just saying it, but I was probably close to canning it at the end of last season. Then Cheika came in, and I’ve really enjoyed him. Richard Cockerill, in my early days, he’s a remarkable bloke in many ways, a proper character, absolute passion for Leicester Tigers. My early days, you had Andy Key, Dusty Hare, in my academy days that got me through.

“England wise I’ve had a lot of coaches, from Jonno (Martin Johnson) to Lanny (Stuart Lancaster) to Eddie (Jones), John Mitchell, there’s been great people. I think for me, the coaches have been great, and they’ve all influenced it. But, in my honest opinion, it’s the players you play alongside, they influence you more than any coach.

“I’ve played with some crackers, your Owen Farrell’s, your George Ford’s, Matty To’omua, Andre Pollard, those guys that pushed you to another level. Coaches do guide you, but it’s actually rubbing shoulders with those that really raise your standards.”

“Aaron Smith. Will Genia, Anton Dupont, they’re three (scrum halves) that have just been sensational. (Dimitri) Yachvili was also someone I played against really early on. He’s someone I watched for years. Playing against him, I just loved how he dictated play. I played a lot against Aaron, a lot against Will, and latter years, Anton. When you face those guys, you’ve got to raise to their standards that they so often set, they’re absolute legends of the game.”

Having made his professional debut for Leicester Tigers all the way back in 2007, Youngs has grown and evolved with a changing role to the number nine shirt. Youngs reflected upon a recent conversation he’d had with Wallabies legend Will Genia, about how the scrum half job description has become significantly different from when he first progressed into the academy set-up at Welford Road.

“It’s changed a lot. I’ll have to keep adapting right to the last day, because it’s not done yet. The defense has improved and kicking, I think tactically that’s one of the things that I’ve had to adapt and change, as I’ve had to evolve with the game.

“I had a great chat with Will Genia the other day, and we were chatting about how it started, where the game is at now, and it has changed. In five years time again, it will be different to what it is now. That’s good, that’s exciting, because as a player, you constantly have to try and evolve and pioneer in the way that you want to play and that keeps you fresh.”

With just three rounds left of the Premiership’s regular season, and two potential play-off matches should Leicester make it all the way to the final, the sands of time are thinning out to the final grains for Youngs. However, the halfback has left the Leicester nine jersey in safe hands, with his Tigers protege Jack van Poortvleit stepping up to carry the shirt forward into the next era.

Van Poortvleit continues to elevate his stock within the England pecking order, as a chasing contender to Alex Mitchell’s nine jersey. Van Poortvleit impressed with recent appearances throughout the Autumn Nations Series, before Mitchell returned to the mantle as Steve Borthwick’s first choice nine for the 2025 Six Nations. Mitchell could well be whisked away on British & Irish Lions duties this Summer, which would hand van Poortvleit and the other chasing scrum halves a crack at the whip on England’s trip to Argentina and the United States in the coming months.

“You look at Alex Mitchell, you’ve got Jack van Poortvliet, Harry Randall, I think Raffi Querke, if he can string some games together, he’s just have such an unfortunate run of injuries. Those four straight away. I mean, Ben Spencer has been dabbed in and out, he plays brilliantly for Bath, but those four are kind of the ones I think are going to battle it out for the next foreseeable future. That position is very, very strong in England, which is terrific. It’s what you want.”

Despite having an abundance of experience and expertise, Youngs has turned his head away from a future in professional rugby coaching. The former Gresham’s scholar will return to the Norfolk academic institution, as the Head of Performance of Sport. Couple this with his hilarious ‘For the Love of Rugby’ Podcast with life-long Leicester and England teammate Dan Cole, and Youngs has quite enough to keep him busy as he dives into the waters of post-rugby retirement.

“No coaching, no. It’s not something I’m keen to explore straight away. It may be something I come back to, but short term, I just need to step away from it in terms of the day to day stuff and reset and see. I never say never. I love the tactical part of the game.

“It’s something I’ve done since I was 20 years old, and looking at tactics and all those little bits and driving things. But with that, that’s a long old time of doing it. So, I need a little break, and then we’ll reassess. But if I’m being totally transparent, coaching isn’t something that I’m looking to explore straight away.”

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