Rugby Pass has released player ratings encompassing all individuals who participated for England over the past month.
This list specifically focuses on players who secured a spot in Steve Borthwick’s ultimate 33-man roster for the upcoming 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Notably, the most unsettling aspect is that the top performer within this compilation only achieved a score of 2/10 for their contributions over the last month.
#5. Ben Youngs – 2/10
A virtuoso performance from Ben Youngs, making only his second Twickenham start, brought him the Investec Man of the Match award when England overpowered Australia 35-18 in November 2010.
Six years later, in the corresponding game, he won the Old Mutual Wealth Man of the Match award in England’s 37-21 victory. He appeared in every match in the 2013 Six Nations and went on to reach 40 caps against South Africa at Twickenham in November 2014 before his 50th came against Fiji. Ben went on to break Matt Dawson’s record for England Test starts at scrum half in the opening match of the 2018 NatWest 6 Nations against Italy in Rome.
He started the 2019 Rugby World Cup final against South Africa and currently holds the record for being the most-capped England Men’s international of all time, having surpassed Jason Leonard’s record of 114 caps in England’s fixture against Wales in the 2022 Six Nations. Recently, Youngs was named in a Rugby World Cup squad for the fourth time in his career when he was included in Steve Borthwick’s squad for the 2023 edition of the tournament in France.
They wrote: “No one can besmirch his legendary status as the England men’s most-capped player of all time, but it doesn’t look like he has it at this level anymore. Ireland had him in their pocket, with every contribution he made so very predictable and ineffective.”