‘Australia, don’t waste my time’ – England great risks Wallabies backlash after cheeky jibe over Autumn Nations Series prediction
England taking on the the Wallabies and former Red Rose scrum-half Ben Youngs.
Ben Youngs has aimed a cheeky jibe in the direction of Australia over their chances of beating England in next weekend’s Autumn Nations Series match.
The men’s record cap holder for the Red Rose was assessing how Steve Borthwick’s men would fare in their November campaign.
Youngs was speaking ahead of their encounter against the All Blacks, where he actually predicted a victory for Steve Borthwick’s men.
He would have been proven correct had it not been for a late collapse which saw the Red Rose cede a 22-14 advantage with 15 minutes remaining.
Easy win
After making his call on the New Zealand match, Youngs moved on to the Australia clash, which got a short shrift from the Red Rose great.
“Australia, don’t waste my time, do you know what I mean,” he said on the For The Love Of Rugby podcast.
It was not a response which particularly pleased his former Test team-mate Dan Cole, who could well be coming up against a fired up Australian side next weekend.
“If I now after that Australia game see on their changing room wall, ‘England’s most capped man has been hammering the Aussies’…” Youngs’ co-host joked.
“If there’s one game they want to win in the autumn, it’s going to be England isn’t it? ‘Ah, there’s been one bloke, he’s been slagging us off for so long and it really gave us motivation this week.’
“That’s a potential banana skin in some regards because Australia will target that game.
“You think it will be an easy game, but I think it will be a tough game. England will come off first game and the emotion of New Zealand – win or lose – and you’ve then got Australia, who if they beat England at Allianz [Twickenham], they could lose every other game and it would be the best thing for Australia rugby ever.
“I’m not going to say it will happen but I don’t think it’s the formality or turn up, rotate your team and beat them. It’s going to be a tricky game.”
Youngs stuck to his guns, however, insisting that it will be a comfortable victory for England, despite the Wallabies having the highly regarded Joe Schmidt in their coaching box.
“Against Australia, I stand by it mate, just go and get the business done,” he said.
“Joe Schmidt, he will have a couple of clever plays, it wouldn’t surprise me if Australia score a couple of nice tries, but other than that… I don’t want to say it.”
Springboks challenge
Should England get through New Zealand and Australia unscathed, they will go into the clash with the Springboks full of confidence. However, Youngs believes that the world champions will prove too strong for the hosts.
“The game that I look at and think England could get unstuck, I think South Africa right now are pretty far ahead of where England are,” he added.
“I think that although England are very competitive, the France game, the New Zealand games in the summer, we haven’t quite fallen the right side of just getting the result.
“I think South Africa’s depth, ability, experience and all that, I think they’re the best team in the world, so I don’t see England doing that.”
That of course then led to a comment from Cole who quipped: “You’re going to go on the England changing room wall now.”
