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Youngs enjoys captaincy experience

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Ben Youngs added another achievement in his career when he captained Leicester Tiger for the first time in senior company against Edinburgh on Saturday.

Still only 24 but a veteran of five Premiership Finals with Tigers, plus almost 40 England caps and a winning tour with the Lions, Youngs has packed a lot into his career so far, but this was his first experience of leading out a team at senior level.
 
“I captained a bit at Academy level, but that’s it so far,” said Youngs after the 11-10 win over Edinburgh on Saturday, sealed with a last-minute penalty kick from his scrum-half replacement David Mele.
 
“It was really nice to lead out the team, even for a pre-season friendly. Cockers wants to develop some of the younger lads and I still see myself as one of those.
 
“I enjoyed the experience and I’m one from one, which is better than Crofty! David Mele keeps my record at 100 per cent. I owe him for that one. He puts in his time on his goalkicking and does not get that many chances but he took it today.”
 
Youngs was among an international contingent gaining their first gametime of the pre-season programme and he says there were positives to take out of the day.
 
“There were moments of really good play and glimpses in the opening 30 minutes of things starting to gel, which is good.
 
“There was some scrappiness too – for most of the team it was a first game for a few months and you expect a bit of that. But it is a starting point for us, we’ll review it at training on Monday and go again for Cardiff next Friday and then Newcastle.
 
“It was physical, they made us work hard. You need to get into that physical preparation for a long, hard season and the only way to do that is play in physical games.”
 
Tigers are back on home turf on Friday for the final outing of pre-season, against Cardiff Blues. Kick-off is at 7.30pm and tickets are available now. This fixture is included in season tickets. For all other supporters, tickets are available from the Tigers ticket office at Welford Road. Call in or phone 0844 856 1880 (open until 4pm Bank Holiday Monday, 8.30am-5pm weekdays, until 8pm Wednesdays and up to kick-off this Friday). Or click here to book online any time.