British & Irish Lion Tom Youngs insists England still need to keep improving despite recording impressive victories over Wales and Italy in the last fortnight.
Youngs, who featured in all three Tests of the Lions’ victorious 2013 Australia tour, has come on as a replacement in England’s recent successes, including the six-try 47-17 defeat of the Azzurri on Saturday.
But the hooker was quick to admit that the Red Rose have a lot of graft ahead of them if they are to continue their winning run when they clash with Ireland on Sunday week.
“There’s still plenty to work on, which is a good thing,” Youngs told Sky Sports.
“We are not the finished article, and we won’t be for a long time, we are still chipping away at little things.
“As soon as you think you are the finished article is when you are going to get knocked down a peg or two.
“It was a good win against Italy, but at the same time are still plenty of things to focus on, which is what we need.”
The 28-year-old, who played alongside scrum-half brother Ben in the famous Lions jersey to ensure the pair become the 14th set of siblings to represent the team, also spoke of England’s need to play their rugby from the first whistle.
“We did talk about the first ten minutes before the game, and it didn’t quite happen for us,” he added.
“They started well and got a try on us, and that probably kicked us into gear a little bit.
“It is something that we need to address and talk about a bit more, and I am sure we will do.”
