England’s most-capped men’s player Ben Youngs has had some epic battles with Australia over a Test career spanning 127 caps, and recently copped plenty of banter for his pre-Autumn Nations Series prediction that the Wallabies would lose last weekend’s Ella-Mobbs Trophy match at Allianz Stadium.
But the former scrum-half recognises that last Saturday’s epic, smash-and-grab 42-37 victory over England, whilst galling to see as a proud Englishman, was good for rugby as a whole.
Chatting with Rugby World Cup 2007-winning captain John Smit and former Springbok Hanyani Shimange as his podcast For The Love Of Rugby linked up with RPTV’s Boks Office for a special episode in London, Youngs said: “We need Australia to be good, world rugby needs Australia to be good. It’s all tongue-in-cheek but let’s not beat around the bush, we need Australia to have a really strong rugby union team.
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“The benefit of that is huge for the global game. Of course they have got the Lions hosting but also the World Cup is around the corner so everyone benefits from a really strong Australian team. So, actually, I am happy to eat some humble pie, I can cop it. It’s good for the game, I truly mean that.”
Debutant Joseph Suaalii’ played a huge hand in Australia’s first win in south-west London over England since the Rugby World Cup 2015 pool match, one of the rare occasions when Youngs was on the losing side against the Wallabies.
And Youngs thinks his cross-code move will have a massive role to play in re-engaging Australian sports fans with the team that won two Rugby World Cups in the 1990s but has since fallen on hard times.
“I think it is important for Australia, that like Cheslin (Kolbe), they have box-office players, people that draw a crowd like Antoine Dupont with France,” said Youngs, for whom Australia was his most common opponent, except Wales, with 12 wins in 15 appearances.
“Them having him opens up the door. Australian rugby has to play fourth, fifth fiddle behind so many other sports, and someone like that will draw some attention. My gosh, he lived up to expectations, he was sensational.”
From being in the depths of despair after a terrible Rugby Championship campaign, the mood in Australian rugby is so much more upbeat, with even talk that the current squad can emulate the 1984 Grand Slammers and return home with a clean sweep of victories against the Home Nations.
Asked whether he thinks Australia will follow up their win over England with victories against Wales, Scotland and Ireland, Youngs said: “No. I don’t. They’ll beat Wales, they seem to be really struggling. But I think Scotland will beat them, so I think they will go home with two wins and two losses.
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