Ben Youngs gives ‘incredibly honest’ assessment of Premiership final officiating as Leicester legend angry after ‘dead-set pen’ missed
Ben Youngs box-kicking and fellow retiring Leicester Tigers legend Dan Cole, who received a yellow card in the final.
Former Leicester Tigers scrum-half Ben Youngs has revealed his frustration at the officiating after their Premiership final defeat on Saturday.
The Tigers succumbed to Bath in the showpiece event, going down 23-21 to the West Country outfit at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday.
It was Youngs’ final game of his professional career and, alongside fellow retiree Dan Cole, he could not hide his disappointment at some of the decisions during an Instagram Live broadcast.
He started off by saying: “The officiating, or not officiating, was pretty interesting. We’re both retired now so we will be incredibly honest while still trying to stick to our morals of ‘For The Love of Rugby’ [podcast].”
Dan Cole yellow
Leicester were six points behind going into the final 11 minutes when Dan Cole was sin-binned after taking Finn Russell out when trying to charge down the fly-half’s ‘up and under.’
Youngs repeated some of the fans’ comments on Instagram, who stated: “Coley never a yellow”, before the former scrum-half added: “Indeed.”
The 35-year-old was then asked about his call to box-kick late on, a decision which confused many and enabled Bath to regain possession and see out the contest.
According to the playmaker, he wanted to immediately spread the ball wide after the Tigers won a turnover, but the England great claimed that he was prevented from doing so by a cynical infringement from a Bath player.
As a result, Youngs felt that he had no other option but to put a contestable kick up in the hope that they would win the ball back.
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Youngs’ view on late controversy
He explained: “We get a turnover, it’s on to shift immediately. It’s on and I’m all for it – we’ve got the turnover, we’re ready to go – and then a certain player from the opposition jumps over the ruck and kills the ball, which apparently on June 14, 2025, it’s the only time you’re allowed to do that infringement.
“Any other time, that’s a dead-set pen, but on this occasion, I don’t know what happened, although apparently you’re okay to do that.
“We don’t get that, I then get caught in the ruck, so I can’t shift the ball. James Cronin, the great loosehead Irishman, chucks the ball right to left, we carry it, and then we’ve got no shape – nothing to go to.
“Our best bet is to go to an aerial kick, try and win it. If we don’t win it, counter-ruck, try and hit that. Their first carry, they carry forward, and five people go off their feet to seal it off. Again, that rule doesn’t apply.
“That’s why I kicked it. I wanted to run it straightaway but got taken out and the ball got killed – apparently you’re allowed to do that.
“We then go to the air to try and win it back, or them to go a couple of rucks and give our guys a couple of opportunities to get a jackal, which would give us a shot to win it with a pen, but it was not to be.”
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