It is one thing for your international career to be brought to an abrupt halt, just as the team you have been dropped from are about to embark on a record-breaking unbeaten year. The pain of being marooned on the sidelines could be greater still, you might think, when one of the leading lights of the revival happens to be your younger brother.
For Tom Youngs, though, while the wound of his international omission still smarts, the progress made by Ben has acted as a healing balm, rather than a smearing of salt. “People talk about rivalry between brothers, but there’s absolutely none of that,” Youngs said. “I couldn’t be prouder of Ben.
“Yes, I’d like to be beside him with England, but they’re playing well, he’s playing some good stuff and I’m really enjoying watching him.”
In the context of their international careers, it can be easy to forget that Tom is, by some two and a half years, the elder of the brothers and Leicester team-mates. While Ben, the scrum half, who was England’s outstanding player of an unbeaten autumn series, made his international debut in 2010, aged 20, Tom was two months short of his 26th birthday by the time his conversion from centre to hooker bore the fruit of England selection.
“I had a different route to Ben,” Youngs said. “But he’s really matured over the last 18 months, committed himself and got himself into good nick, it’s been great to see.”
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Since Eddie Jones replaced Stuart Lancaster as England head coach, the two brothers’ fortunes have taken divergent paths. While a leaner, sharper Ben has re-established himself as one of the best in his position in the game, Tom, who started all four World Cup games last year, has barely been given a sniff by Jones.
He was included in a 45-man provisional squad in August, but missed out when the numbers were whittled down.
Jones has preferred the set-piece solidity offered by Dylan Hartley, with a hungry pack of younger hookers now snapping at the captain’s heels. The prospects of Youngs adding to his 31 caps — 28 for England, three for the British & Irish Lions — look decidedly slim at the moment.
“The thing with Eddie is you know where you stand. He rang me to say I wasn’t going to be part of the autumn, and that’s what you want as a player,” Youngs said.
“It’s never nice not to be wanted, but it’s a professional sport and these things happen.
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“I’m 30 in January and Jamie George [Saracens], Tommy Taylor [Wasps] and Luke Cowan-Dickie [Exeter Chiefs] are a lot younger.
“I still want to be a part of it, of course I do, but maybe Eddie is looking to bring them through. But I have plenty on my plate being captain of Leicester.”
And never more so than this week. At Welford Road this afternoon, the Youngs brothers will be back alongside each other in a European Champions Cup game of potentially seismic importance for Leicester.
The 38-0 defeat away to Munster last week, a record margin of loss in European competition for the Tigers, not only dealt a serious blow to their hopes of progressing beyond the pool stages, but has also prompted speculation about the future of Richard Cockerill, the director of rugby.
The return fixture today is a game that Leicester dare not lose. In the Champions Cup earlier this season, they recovered from a 42-13 mauling away to Glasgow Warriors with a cathartic 27-17 success at home to Racing 92 the following week. More of the same is urgently required today, with Glasgow’s victory away to Racing last weekend keeping the pool alive.
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“We were disappointed and embarrassed by what happened at Thomond Park, but at the same time the pool isn’t gone,” Youngs said.
“As captain, I take it more and a defeat like that hurts. But it’s not all broken, you can’t just tear everything apart. You have to move on and get over it, because we’ve got another opportunity this weekend.”
Although the Tigers have been replaced by Saracens as England’s pre-eminent club in recent seasons, the new money elbowing out the old, expectations remain high and the impact of a humbling defeat is still deeply felt around a club that remains firmly rooted in its locality.
“You’re ducking your head a bit [in public] after a defeat like that,” Youngs said. “People are very nice, but you do feel embarrassed. I didn’t do very much last Sunday.
“I came into the club for a bit of physio, then had some lunch with Mat Tait and his family. Being with the family helps [his daughter, Maisie, is three]. Rugby is very important, but you soon remember there are some things that are more important.”
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A similar sense of perspective has been required in dealing with his vertiginous fall from favour with England under Jones since his most recent cap, against Uruguay in Manchester 14 months ago.
From the time he made his debut in 2012, Youngs was a fixture in the England squad, either as an impact substitute and understudy to Hartley, or as the starting hooker himself. On the Lions’ victorious tour to Australia three years ago, he started in the first two internationals and came off the bench in the third.
These remain remarkable achievements for a player who was a centre until he was 21. While his younger brother was emerging as England’s brightest scrum-half prospect, Youngs was undergoing a conversion that few attempt, requiring a change in body shape as well the need to learn the myriad dark arts required of a front-row player. Within four seasons, he was playing for England.
“Ben had a different pathway, but I had to turn a corner and go backwards to go forwards,” Youngs said.
“You probably have to be a unique character to go through that. But everyone has a story of how things come around for them, that’s just the way it is.”
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The stories of the Youngs brothers may have taken contrasting turns in the past year, but they will be back in harness today, desperate to steer the Tigers through a particularly tricky chapter in the club’s proud history.
Where are World Cup rejects?
Seven other World Cup members have not been part of a squad under Eddie Jones
Brad Barritt
Saracens centre
Captained Saracens to the Aviva Premiership and European Champions Cup
Kieran Brookes
Northampton prop
Still considered to have an England future. The 26-year-old played for the Saxons in their summer tour
Sam Burgess
Centre
Ended union experiment when he switched from Bath back to rugby league with South Sydney Rabbitohs
Nick Easter
No 8
Last-minute call-up for the World Cup aged 37. Retired in the summer to join Harlequins’ coaching staff
Geoff Parling
Exeter lock
Helped Exeter Chiefs to second last season but they have struggled this term
Rob Webber
Sale hooker
Left Bath for Sale and is part of a struggling team
Richard Wigglesworth
Saracens scrum half
The 33-year-old remains a key part of a dominant Saracens team
David Wilson
Newcastle prop
After seven years at Bath, Wilson is back at his old club, helping them avoid the annual relegation battle
Words by George Roberts