Watching the Tigers v Exeter game, and wondering why Tom Youngs isn't in Japan as 3rd choice hooker. Surely a former British Lion would have been a better option than Sarries 2nd choice hooker ? Unless he asked not to be considered on compassionate grounds because of his wife's battle with cancer. Any thoughts ?

He's also well known for not being able to hook.

Eddie Jones dislikes hookers who can't hook. One of the key features of his Japan sides was channel one ball straight from the hooker to the no.8  in order to generate the quickest ball possible.  Youngs was dreadful at the core tasks for a hooker. It actually says something about how much the game has changed in the last ten years in that now you probably wouldn't even try to convert a centre to a hooker (though, as Schalk Brits and Ken Owens have demonstrated, you might try to convert a hooker to a No.8   )    ;)

Watching the Tigers v Exeter game, and wondering why Tom Youngs isn't in Japan as 3rd choice hooker. Surely a former British Lion would have been a better option than Sarries 2nd choice hooker ? Unless he asked not to be considered on compassionate grounds because of his wife's battle with cancer. Any thoughts ?

Singleton only joined Sarries this summer, no? He's been part of the England setup for a while.

Tom Youngs hasn't been much cop for a few years now, which isn't all that surprising given everything that's happened off the field, and his own weaknesses on it.