Leicester Tigers

Still in his early-20s, scrum-half Ben Youngs has already played in four Premiership Finals and played in a Rugby World Cup campaign.

Son of former Leicester and England scrum-half Nick, Youngs made his big breakthrough in the 2009/10 season, scoring 17 points in the historic win over South Africa at Welford Road, and then being named Tigers Players’ Player of the Year, Supporters’ Young Player of the Year and Rugby Players Association Young Player before scoring a try in the Guinness Premiership Final win over Saracens.

He made his England debut as an emergency winger in the Six Nations win over Scotland in 2010, toured Australia and New Zealand that summer, and was an ever-present in Six Nations-winning side of 2011 before recovering from a knee injury to join the flight to New Zealand for the World Cup.

Youngs became the club’s youngest-ever league player with his debut in the closing seconds of a defeat at Bristol in April 2007 and came off the bench in the 2008 Guinness Premiership Final win over Gloucester before his 18th birthday.