Tom Youngs is demanding a response from Leicester after their heavy defeat by Glasgow on the opening night of the Champions Cup. The Tigers face the French champions Racing 92, the team who beat them in last May’s semi-final in Nottingham, at Welford Road on Sunday knowing that anything other than a victory would leave them in danger of an early exit.
The passing days after that Friday did nothing to dim the Leicester captain’s anger at a performance that started well but deteriorated to the extent that Glasgow emerged not just victorious but armed with a bonus point.
“I take defeat personally as captain and I have been pretty pissed off, to be honest,” says Youngs. “You come into training, watch the game, take the positives out of it and the stuff we need to work on and crack on. I will only be happy if we perform well against Racing and can put Glasgow to bed.
“It is good that we have such a huge game next up. We were hugely disappointed with what happened in Glasgow but we have to dust ourselves down and get on with it. We started well on Friday but then lost our way and went negative. The [42-13] scoreline was an unfair reflection because they scored two interception tries at the end as we tried to force it and threw the ball around.”
Racing have not won away from home in the Top 14 this season but they drew at Northampton and won at the Scarlets in last season’s Champions Cup before thwarting Leicester in the semi-final. They have been distracted by the attention focused on three of their players, Dan Carter, Joe Rokocoko and Juan Imhoff, who faced a hearing this month after being drug-tested following the Top 14 final, and their match against Munster last Sunday was called off following the death of Anthony Foley.
“We made a lot of handling errors in the semi-final against Racing,” Youngs says. “Looking at that game over the last day or so, that was the biggest lesson we came out with. We created opportunities but we just didn’t hold on to the ball for long enough to put pressure on them. We know we have to win, otherwise there is no doubting we will be out given the group we are in.
“There will be pressure on us but we thrive on that. We will stand up, face it head-on and throw everything we have got into Racing. Many of the errors we made against Glasgow were basic and individual; they can be fixed. Not much was said after the match. There was no point in ranting and raving. That gets you nowhere.”
Youngs’s international career has gone nowhere since Eddie Jones took over as England’s head coach at the end of last year. Having vied with Dylan Hartley for the hooker’s jersey in the Stuart Lancaster era, he has been overtaken by Jamie George and Luke Cowan-Dickie.
“Eddie was in touch to let me know I wasn’t selected in the last squad,” adds Youngs. “Those conversations are hard but you have to have them. England have been successful under him so he is going to keep to what he knows and that is fair enough: all those guys deserve to get selected again. There are some good young hookers about who are playing very well. You have got to put it into context sometimes but you never want to give up hope of being back in an England shirt.
“I have to work hard and probably make very few mistakes, if any, to get back in. I know what he wants me to do and that is between me and Eddie. Knowing is the main thing and my form has not been too bad, although I was not great at Glasgow. You are never near the finished article – ever.”
Leicester are certainly not, as they look to evolve their game under the head coach, Aaron Mauger, the former New Zealand centre. “We have made many mistakes in games,” says Youngs. “Is it right to have a go? Maybe not sometimes, just get the ball downfield. We are getting there, just not as quickly as we want to. But we will get there.”
