Ben Youngs left out of England squad to face Italy

[Rossm]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/64572683

Jack retained.

[NellyWellyWaspy]

Oh, NOoooooo!!

I am gutted (re Ben Youngs news). Not to say he is not a nice guy (he is), but ....

[St Bruno]

Not before time, in my view.
As mentioned by WWW on another thread, he was the reason England lost against Scotland.

My grandmother would make a better scrumhalf and she passed way (though not from the base of the breakdown) some 50 years ago.

Youngs has been useless for years.

[Neils]

Shame that has probably reduced Italy's chances.

[Shugs]

Youngs has been a good scrum half. But his time had passed a couple of seasons ago. Just got to grasp the nettle at 12 now???..

[Skippy]

Quote from Borthwick

"There are no mind games in any of this. We think this gives us the best chance of winning, and he [Youngs] is absolutely behind what we are trying to do.?

Yup, absolutely behind because he?s old, has lost his pace and has always been ponderous.

[baldpaul101]

I suspect this is doing what normal coaches do, trying out different options on "weaker" sides to see how they perform.
I expect Youngs will be back in the side over the next few matches