Youngs keen to banish ghosts of Aviva

England 38 Scotland 18

Mention of it brings a wry grin and a shake of the head.

No wonder; after all, the Aviva Stadium was where he endured the lowest moment of his international career, two years ago, one which was swiftly followed by one of the worst of his club career.

Now, he has to return as England look to demonstrate that they are a team transformed, one which can rise above the mundane and the mediocre and start setting out their stall for the 2015 World Cup.

It won’t be easy, but their 38-18 victory over an average Scotland at least hinted that December’s stunning win over New Zealand was not the peak of Stuart Lancaster’s reign.

Ultimately, this trip to Ireland cannot be any worse than England’s last in the Six Nations, when under Martin Johnson they hoped to secure the Grand Slam but left with their tails between their legs, having been thumped 24-8 — a result which flattered them.

Youngs’ career had, until that point, been on a steady upwards curve, but a foolish yellow card for throwing a ball into the crowd to prevent a quick line-out led to a period of introspection.

Yet the past two years has been a period of transition within English rugby, as evidenced by the fact that only four of the players who started two years ago – Youngs, Chris Ashton, Dan Cole and Tom Wood – are likely to do so next Sunday.

Many view that as a positive, but the bear-pit atmosphere in Dublin will be new to over two-thirds of the English side.

And as someone who has experienced just what it is like, Youngs is perhaps the man to offer advice from bitter experience.

“When we last played them, Ireland came out so quickly and we were second best at everything,” said Youngs, whose Leicester side lost their Heineken Cup quarter-final to Leinster a month after his personal disaster at the Aviva.

“We have to weather the first 20 or 25 minutes, and we have to play in the right areas of the field and put pressure on them.

“Back then we tried to play too much rugby in the opening 20 minutes, and I don’t think we understood what was coming at us. A lot of those young guys are now two years wiser from club games, Test matches and Heineken Cup games.

“Personally, I’m a far better player now. It was a bad day at the office where I made a fair few mistakes. Did it help my development? Well, I’d rather have won a Grand Slam but you have to go through those hard times because it makes you learn very, very quickly.

“This side wants to minimise mistakes and learn while winning – but we lost against South Africa and Australia in the Autumn, and if we had won those two games I’m not sure we would have got the performance we did against New Zealand.

“Ireland have a huge amount of talent. To go ahead by 30 points at the Millennium Stadium is a credit to them, and in Jonny Sexton, Rory Best and Brian O’Driscoll they have some of the best players in Europe.

“We need to be a little more street-wise (than two years ago).”

Yet this is a young England side that aren’t quite street-wise yet. They have done well at Twickenham but Dublin will present an entirely different challenge.

Owen Farrell, for example, is making the fly-half role his own. But he hasn’t played against Sexton in Dublin – not yet, anyway.

“He is outstanding and I learn a lot of things by watching him,” said Farrell of Sexton.

“His control of the game is really good. It’s about being in the right place at the right time to have time on the ball. He knows where he should be, and he has a lot of experience in big games and knows what to do.

“Do I think about going up against him for the Lions? No. There’s a lot of rugby to be played before then.”

It is hard to disagree with Farrell, a down-to-earth character in keeping with England’s philosophy.

And the mood after the victory against Scotland, which was secured by four tries to two, was just an acceptable performance. Everyone knows Dublin will be a different test altogether.

England — Tries: Ashton, Twelvetrees, Parling, Care. Cons: Farrell 3. Pens: Farrell 4.

ENGLAND: Goode, Ashton, Barritt, Twelvetrees, Brown, Farrell, B. Youngs, Marler, T. Youngs, Cole, Launchbury, Parling, Wood, Robshaw, Morgan.

Replacements: Strettle for Goode (68), Flood for Twelvetrees (68), Care for B. Youngs (58), Vunipola for Marler (58), Hartley for T. Youngs (54), Wilson for Cole (74), Lawes for Launchbury (65), Haskell for Morgan (46).

Scotland — Tries: Maitland, Hogg. Cons: Laidlaw. Pens: Laidlaw 2.

SCOTLAND: Hogg, Maitland, Lamont, Scott, Visser, Jackson, Laidlaw, Grant, Hall, Murray, Gray, Hamilton, Strokosch, Brown, Beattie.

Replacements: Evans for Hogg (79), Pyrgos for Laidlaw (74), Ford for Hall (48), Denton for Strokosch (14).

Referee: A Rolland (Ireland).