The scrum-half showed poise and purpose on his 100th cap to score two tries against Italy and bend the game to his will, and was rewarded with the Six Nations title for the fourth time
It was a forgettable game, fitful and bloodless, but Ben Youngs will always remember it. It was his 100th Test, and one of his very best. He scored two tries, one at the start of the first half, the other at the start of the second, and won the fourth Six Nations title of his career. As Owen Farrell said afterwards, a hundred caps is a hell of an achievement for a man who’s still only 31-year-old. He’s only the second England player to do it, after Jason Leonard. And by the time Leonard got there it felt like he was some ancient monument, a front row Moai the team would heave off the bench to shore up their scrum in the last quarter.
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