{"id":293008,"date":"2023-10-25T16:25:13","date_gmt":"2023-10-25T16:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=293008"},"modified":"2023-10-25T16:25:13","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T16:25:13","slug":"ben-youngs-confirms-his-retirement-from-international-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-union\/ben-youngs-confirms-his-retirement-from-international-rugby\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Youngs confirms his retirement from international rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"
England’s most-capped men’s player Ben Youngs has announced that he will retire from international rugby at the end of the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Youngs, 34, is set to earn his 127th cap when he starts England’s Bronze match against Argentina on Friday, and he will be looking to bow out with a final World Cup win.<\/p>\n
He confirmed his decision on BBC’s 5 Live Sport on Wednesday shortly after being named in Steve Borthwick’s starting XV to face their South American opponents.<\/p>\n
Youngs’ international career has spanned over 13 years since he made his debut in the Calcutta Cup against Scotland in March 2010.<\/p>\n
He marked his first start for his country with a solo try in a narrow 21-20 win over Australia later that summer, and went on to play in the World Cup the following year, with England making the quarter-finals before being knocked out by France.<\/p>\n
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Ben Youngs will call time on his international career after Friday’s Bronze match at the World Cup<\/p>\n
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Youngs has won the Six Nations three times and will retire after winning his 127th cap on Friday<\/p>\n
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Youngs scored a try on his first international start back in 2010, and has been a key part of England’s success over the last 13 years<\/p>\n
Youngs would go on to play in three more World Cups, and played a key role in England’s run to the final in 2019 before they fell short against South Africa.<\/p>\n
He has fallen behind Alex Mitchell and Danny Care in the pecking order for this year’s tournament, but will get one final chance to try to help England secure a third-placed finish on Friday.<\/p>\n
He would have wished to finish on the ultimate high of playing in another final, but England’s dream of a second World Cup triumph was ended last week when they slipped to a 16-15 defeat against South Africa.<\/p>\n
Still, Youngs can look back on a glittering career that saw him win the Six Nations three times, which included being part of the team that claimed the Grand Slam in 2016 under Eddie Jones.<\/p>\n
He has scored 20 tries in his 126 matches to date, and overtook Jason Leonard as England’s most-capped men’s player in February 2022.<\/p>\n
He is the second vastly experienced English player to announce his retirement this week after Courtney Lawes confirmed he will be walking away on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Lawes has not made the squad for Friday’s game, with Borthwick picking some previously out-of-favour players after a long tournament, meaning he will not get one last hurrah alongside Youngs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Courtney Lawes also confirmed his retirement over the weekend after England’s defeat by South Africa<\/p>\n
Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ben Youngs confirms his retirement from international rugby, with England’s most-capped men’s player set to bow out in Friday’s Bronze match at the World Cup […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293007,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n