Ben Youngs sat down for an exclusive interview with talkSPORT’s James Savundra this week.
On his first meeting with Eddie Jones:
“I walked in and it started off really well. We started chatting about my previous games and what he thought, it started really complimentary and I thought, ‘this is going alright here’ and then he went ‘I want you to be the best nine in the world and why aren’t you?’ I said ‘I’m not sure, is it consistency? Is it my basic skills?’ I was throwing these things around and he said ‘nah, nah, nah’. I must have said five things and he said ‘nah’ so I gave up and he said ‘you need to lose four or five kilos mate, you’re too heavy, you’re too fat, you’re not quick enough’. He chucked me a bag of sweets and went ‘do you want them?’ I said ‘no’ and he said ‘mate, that’s a great start, work with the S&C (strength and conditioning) staff, lose some weight and you’ll be playing’.”
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On the future for England under Eddie Jones:
“I’m really excited about the prospect of what’s to come. I really feel under Eddie and this current squad that there is so much growth within that side. It is very exciting. He has had a huge influence on my career. After the previous regime and World Cup, straight away we took to him and believe in him 100 per cent in terms of where we are going as a side and how we are going to get there. The environment at England is challenging but in a great way. It challenges you to be better every day.”
On when he expects to return from injury:
“I’m pretty hopeful I will play a part towards the end of the season. Certainly the aim is to get back fit and play for Leicester towards the last couple of rounds of the Premiership. We are back into fifth and hopefully we will be in contention to fight for something and that will be very nice to return with something in sight.”