Leicester's Ben Youngs: Beating Leinster not about stopping Johnny Sexton

The days of stopping Leinster by stopping Johnny Sexton are over, according to Leicester scrum-half Ben Youngs.

The sides, who have six Heineken Champions Cups between them, face off at Mattioli Woods Welford Park on Saturday at 5.30pm.

The 36-year-old out-half has been central to Ireland and Leinster's success over the last 13 years and previously the belief was that nullifying his treat would go halfway to beating the four-time winners.

"That’s not something I believe," said Tigers and England scrum-half Ben Youngs when the proposition was put to him.

"I just think that as a half back if you get front-foot ball then your job becomes easier.

"From our point of view, it is not necessarily about stopping Johnny, even though he is very important to them.

"It is about minimising the amount of times he has front-foot ball, minimising the amount of times he and Jamison Gibson-Park have quick ball because they will punish us. It is never about stopping an individual.

"It is about stopping them from being at their best. One way for a half-back is trying to win collisions and slow down the speed of ball because they are a massive possession-based team. We have got a bit of a job on our hands to stop that."

Youngs and Sexton were half-back partners on the 2013 Lions tour of Australia and England’s most capped player says he is a big admirer of Sexton’s resilience.

"It comes from within, his ability to still produce and perform comes from his ability to still strive and constantly want more," said the 32-year-old.

"He’s achieved pretty much everything from a personal point of view, World player of the year, Grand Slams, Six Nations titles, European Cups, domestic leagues, so he’s done a huge amount.

"He still has a huge amount of self-drive.