Former England scrum-half Ben Youngs has confirmed he will continue playing after undergoing heart surgery earlier this year, following a collapse during an open training session with the Leicester Tigers.
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The 34-year-old, England’s most-capped men’s player, was diagnosed with an irregular, abnormally fast heartbeat. After the incident at Welford Road, Youngs had surgery and expects to be fully fit for the new Premiership season starting in September.
Speaking on his “For The Love Of Rugby” podcast, co-hosted with Tigers teammate Dan Cole, Youngs said: “You know when we joked around on the pod quite a while back, and we had this open training session at Leicester, and I said I was doing fitness, and basically I collapsed.
“Well, not collapsed, but I had to stop and lay down as my heart was pounding away, and the rain was hitting me in the face, and I sort of rolled my head to the side and looked at all these admiring fans – 30 of them – that were all packed out in the main stand at Leicester.
“And I thought: ‘This is it, this is how I’m gonna go.’
“I’ve basically had a few of these episodes and I’ve had it my whole life. It can just kind of spontaneously happen at any stage of your life or career. And so I have had it my whole life, unknown to me.”
Youngs, who retired from international duty after the 2023 World Cup with 127 caps, added: “The club have been amazing, as they so often are with anything like this. I got checked the first time it happened, [then] a second time it happened again.
“I am on the mend, I am recovering. I’ll be fine for the start of the season.
“There is a 90% success rate, so I should not suffer now. My ticker should be all good and it won’t suddenly kick in and go mental.”
Steve Borthwick’s England contract will not be renewed
Reflecting on past decisions, the RFU has learned from the extended tenures of Eddie Jones and Sir Clive Woodward and is prepared for Borthwick to step down, even if England clinches the Webb Ellis Cup in Australia.
Here, we explore the current odds on who might succeed Borthwick as the next England head coach.
SIR CLIVE WOODWARD – 50/1
Woodward is the World Cup winning Head Coach who led England’s rugby players to World Cup glory in Australia in 2003.
A former England International and British & Irish Lion himself, prior to his full time coaching career Clive established a successful business career working for nine years with Xerox in the UK and Australia before establishing his own small finance and leasing company.
During Clive’s tenure as Head Coach England moved from 6th in the world to being the number one ranked team, winning every trophy an England team can win.
RICHARD COCKERILL – 30/1
Currently in charge of Georgia, he was part of the England coaching staff up until the end of the 2023 Six Nations.
GRAHAM ROWNTREE – 20/1
Currently the Munster head coach.
ROB BAXTER – 18/1
Although Baxter joined the England coaching team for the summer tour to Argentina and Uruguay in March 2013, he has no other experience outside of Exeter.
“I would be happy to have a chat about what the role is, how they see it working and what their plans and ambitions are,” Baxter said of the England job.
“Unless you know what it is, it’s hard to say yes or no to anything. At the same time, I’m not looking for another job! I’m very happy here,” he added.
