‘There wasn’t a dry eye’: Tom Youngs proud after his final Leicester team-talk

Tom Youngs has revealed how he left the Leicester squad in tears after addressing his former teammates one last time following his retirement. Youngs, 35, announced he would be hanging up his boots last week but was invited by the current club captain Ellis Genge to address the side before Saturday’s victory over Bristol.

Youngs said last week this was always going to be his final season with the club but he has not appeared for the Tigers since pre-season. In October he was given indefinite leave to care for his wife, Tiffany, who is ill. He brings the curtain down on his career with 215 appearances for the club, captaining the Tigers on 98 occasions and on Saturday led the side – including his brother Ben – out before kick-off with his daughter Maisie. Tiffany was also in the crowd as Leicester went on to claim a 56-26 victory against the Bears.

“I just talked about how I’d love to do one more tackle for them and one more carry for them but I can’t,” said Youngs. “I talked about Tiff a little bit. I talked about life, and how when you’re in the moment, in that changing room, you don’t realise how good it is and how lucky you are sometimes. Ultimately, you don’t realise how cruel life can be sometimes, so you have to enjoy those moments. There wasn’t really a dry eye in the changing room. It was lovely, and those things will sit with me for a long time. Chris Ashton said he’s never been in such an emotional speech before a game, that’s all he said to me and that he appreciated being a part of my special day.”

Youngs admitted that leaving Leicester on a high – Steve Borthwick’s side are currently top of the Premiership table with a home playoff already assured and face Leinster in the Champions Cup quarter-finals on