From their family farm in Norfolk, Youngs has played alongside his older brother Tom in far further-flung fields, representing Tigers, Lions and their country together.

Tom's own retirement came two years ago. He played only the pre-season of his final campaign, after being granted leave to care for his terminally ill wife Tiffany.

After announcing he would hang up his boots, Tom was invited back into the dressing room for a final time to address the team before their match against Bristol.

Ben, who had turned down a chance to tour with the Lions in 2017 to support Tom and Tiffany, started at scrum-half.

"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 Tom afterwards.

"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."

Leicester won 56-26.

A couple of months later, Tom was invited back into the fold once more, lifting the Premiership title after Leicester's win over Saracens in the Premiership final at Twickenham.