Youngs defends English team after disappointing campaign

England scrumhalf Ben Youngs has hit out at critics after England’s 32-18 loss to Ireland on Saturday evening.

The men in green were decidedly impressive as they systematically brushed Eddie Jones’ charges aside and Youngs, who won his 109^th international cap, bemoaned the ill discipline which has plagued his side during this Six Nations tournament, insists that they take the results seriously.

'It's our job,’ Youngs said. ‘Everyone wants to be as good as they can be at their job. People get to see us on a Saturday, but they don't get to see us in between. Trust me, we will doing everything we can, going through the tournament with a fine tooth comb to figure out where the improvements are and what we need to address. 

'No one wants to perform bigger than us. We're not there to just trot about on a Saturday, we're there to perform and put it all out there. We haven't been consistent enough at doing that. It's not through lack of effort, but it's not been channelled in the right way at times.

'It's very disappointing. It's our living, you know? Every day we wake up and go through everything to be as good as we can be. We try and put a performance out on a Saturday, and no one is ever more disappointed than the players. We strive to be as good as we can be, to put out performances, and today we didn't do that consistently enough.

'If I knew the answer we would have ironed it out by now. It's an ongoing thing. Sometimes teams put you under pressure and it forced you to give penalties away, and sometimes it happens. There were definitely a few of those. Other ones we just need to be smarter about what we're doing and not so desperate. 

'We've got a formidable defence, but have probably come away from trusting that a little bit, forcing our hand rather than hanging on in there. It's a couple of things there we can look at, that trust and mental engagement I guess.

'We're a better team than we were when we won the Six Nations last year, we're a better team than the autumn, and we'll be a better team when we get back together. The biggest thing for us is the consistency, which has ebbed and flowed through games which isn't what we're after. I've been here before, we've come through the other side and will do again.'