By Mitch Phillips
BAGSHOT, England Nov 8 (Reuters) – With two England scrumhalves in the family Tom Youngs was poised for a lifetime of ribbing when he struggled as a Leicester reserve centre but on Saturday, three years after a radical switch to hooker, he will complete the hat-trick against Fiji.
Brother Ben, two years younger at 23, will be on the bench having missed out this time to Danny Care for the number nine shirt while father Nick, who won six caps in the early 1980s, will be the proudest man in the Twickenham stands.
Despite winning age group caps for England as a back, Youngs was persuaded to have a go at transforming himself into a hooker by former Leicester coach Heyneke Meyer in 2009.
After a torrid first few months where he worked hard to bulk up but found himself regularly slaughtered by experienced rivals, a talented front rower began to emerge.
He had a baptism of fire playing on loan for Nottingham against his former club, with a formidable all-international front row of Martin Castrogiovanni, Mefin Davies and Marcos Ayerza.
“I took painkillers for the rest of the week. I was in agony,” he said this week as he prepared for his first taste of full international rugby.
“But I got better and better and got used to it.”
On his return to Leicester Youngs was helped by the presence of the club’s head coach and former England hooker Richard Cockerill and he secured the starting jersey.
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