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Former England and Leicester full-back, Dusty Hare, remembers clearly what struck him the first time he laid eyes on a 14-year-old Ben Youngs playing for Eastern Counties against Hertfordshire at St Albans. “Ben always had an air of time about him, unruffled, never rushing or panicking,” said Hare who helped oversee Ben’s development as part of the Tigers’ Academy. “Ben was in the centre that day, moved infield to fly-half at some point in his young career before settling on his best position at scrum-half. Even as a youngster, he didn’t get flustered. Ben came from farming stock, like myself, and I played with his dad, (another scrum-half), Nick. You can see the family traits in the way Ben has gone about his game, taking his sport seriously but never himself.” It was no surprise given his heritage that Youngs had a ball in his hands from a young age, grandfather Gerry having erected a set of ad-hoc rugby posts from irrigation poles at the family farm at Aylesham in Norfolk. Brother, Tom, is two years older but was rarely able to nail his brother. “There used to be full-on contact sessions at the farm but Tom could never get hold of Ben because he was so nippy and jinky,” said Simon Worralls, master in charge of rugby at their school, Gresham’s, and married to Nick’s sister, Lucy. “There was always a touch of genius about Ben. Rugby is in the family’s blood.” Ben followed Tom into Leicester ranks and made an immediate impression as a 17-year-old when becoming the youngest Tigers player to play in the Premiership, later appearing in that season’s final against Gloucester.
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