England star reveals heart surgery after training collapse

NEWS: England’s most-capped player Ben Youngs revealed he underwent heart surgery earlier this year after collapsing during an open training session with his club Leicester Tigers.

The 34-year-old was speaking on his For The Love Of Rugby podcast when he made the revelation and added that he is recovering and hopes to be fit for the new English Premiership season, starting in September.

“You know when we joked around on the pod quite a while back, and we had this open training session at Leicester, and I said I was doing fitness, and basically I collapsed,” said Youngs.

“Well, not collapsed, but I had to stop and lay down as my heart was pounding away, and the rain was hitting me in the face, and I sort of rolled my head to the side and looked at all these admiring fans – 30 of them – that were all packed out in the main stand at Leicester.

“And I thought: ‘This is it, this is how I’m gonna go’.

“I basically had a few of these episodes and I’ve had it my whole life. And it can just kind of spontaneously happen at any stage of your life or career. And so I have had it my whole life, unknown to me.”

Youngs was diagnosed with arrhythmia and supraventricular tachycardia and had a two-hour operation at a hospital in Birmingham.

“I am on the mend, I am recovering. I’ll be fine for the start of the season,” added Youngs.

“There is a 90 percent success rate, so I should not suffer now. My ticker should be all good and it won’t suddenly kick in and go mental.”

Youngs earned the last of his record 127 caps for England in 2023, as he retired from internationals after England’s third-place play-off victory against Argentina at the Rugby World Cup.