Category: England Rugby

• Former England No 9 treated for irregular heartbeat
• Youngs, 34, hopes to return for Tigers in September

England’s most-capped player, Ben Youngs, has revealed he had heart surgery after collapsing during an open training session. The Leicester scrum-half says he is “on the mend” and hopes to be fit for the new season that begins in September.

Youngs was diagnosed with arrhythmia and supraventricular tachycardia, which is a type of irregular heartbeat that causes the heart’s upper chamber to beat fast or erratically. The 34-year-old had a two-hour operation in Birmingham following the episode while training with Leicester this year.

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• England 21-13 France
• Set-piece superiority guides team to victory

England claimed a first Under-20 world title since 2016 with a victory over France founded on their ruthlessly dominant scrum and a power-packed performance that will have Steve Borthwick licking his lips. Tries from the forwards Joe Bailey and Arthur Green sealed victory in Cape Town with England’s muscle up front proving too much for the defending champions.

England were dominant at scrum-time, winning penalties at will, less than a week after Borthwick had bemoaned the senior side’s set-piece problems. The props Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Afolabi Fasogbon may soon find themselves fast-tracked, such was their superiority in a pack that was missing its first choice tighthead in Billy Sela. Others to burnish their reputations were the second row Junior Kpoku and the flanker Henry Pollock in a performance that bodes well as Borthwick plots a course towards the 2027 World Cup.

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