Damning Rugby Pod verdict: 'Genge looked like he wasn't interested'
Rugby Pod co-host Andy Goode believes the abject performance last Saturday by Ellis Genge on his return to his old club Leicester was a symptom of deeper problems at Bristol that could ultimately lead to the sacking of director of rugby Pat Lam. The Bears had arrived at Mattioli Woods Welford Road on the back of a four-game winning streak that had lifted them out of the doldrums near the foot of the Gallagher Premiership table.
However, having thrived during the league’s Six Nations period, they struggled in the first round since the completion of that championship and were blown away in the second half at Leicester, losing 46-24.
Bristol had just gone 17-15 in front when Genge, the England round four skipper versus France, was introduced off the bench for Yann Thomas but they were eclipsed by four tries to one during his half-hour-plus stint on the pitch.
Retired England out-half Goode took a dim view of what he saw regarding Genge and claimed it was symptomatic of dressing room unrest that could jeopardise the Bristol stewardship of Lam – even though he is tied to a multi-year deal at the Ashton Gate club.
The seventh-place Bristol are 10 points off fourth with just three matches remaining, leaving them unlikely to make the playoffs for the second season in succession since topping the regular-season table in 2020/21 and then imploding in the semi-finals after leading Harlequins 28-0.
Pure power ?
A second for Julián Montoya as @LeicesterTigers extend their lead further.
Just over 20 minutes to go on #PRTV.#GallagherPrem | #LEIvBRI pic.twitter.com/Ni5P3H4sPN
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) March 25, 2023
Alleged dressing room rumblings are, according to Goode, now taking their toll, a situation reflected in how Genge didn’t perform last weekend for Bristol on his first return to Welford Road since skippering Leicester to Premiership glory last June at Twickenham. “We need to talk about Genge,” began Goode on the latest episode of the show he co-hosts with Jim Hamilton, a former Leicester teammate. “I watched him thinking this will be juicy.
“Leicester’s ex-captain coming back, he is a Bristol boy, first time back at Welford Road and I have been there, I played at Leicester for 10 years and the first time I ever came back to Welford Road as an away player at the end of my 10-year tenure I got sent off because I booted Tom Croft in the face – the emotions get hold of you.
“So, Ellis Genge is coming on and I’m thinking he is going to do something. He is going to get angry; he is going to be aggressive at the breakdown, he is going to try and dominate the scrum. He got hosed at scrum time because as soon as he came on, Richard Wigglesworth brought Dan Cole on. Cole absolutely shoved his [Genge’s] head up his own arse. Genge looked like he wasn’t interested. He was basically patting all the Leicester lads on the back as if he was still a Leicester player but in a Bristol jersey.
“The only time he got angry at the end of the game was when Leicester scored a try right at the death and James Cronin is giving him some stick and then they start headbutting and I think there were fingers around the eye area and he got a bit angry towards the end but really surprised. It was like he wasn’t bothered – and I think that is the same for a few of the Bristol boys.
“I think there is a big issue there at Bristol around the empathy and the team spirit within the squad and there is some sort of breakdown there. Yes, they have won a few games recently, but we have said it for a while, there is something not right there, and the fact that Pat Lam is on a seven-year contract – it’s only down to six years now – I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a big change.
“Just rumblings and there are a lot of players leaving. Bristol have spent all this cash, unbelievable squad, but the hangover of losing that semi a few years ago when they were top of the league, got turned over by Quins when they were 28-nil up or something, they haven’t recovered from that. There is a bit of ill-feeling in the squad for various different reasons and if you are Steve Lansdown putting loads of cash in and now you are losing (Semi) Radradra, (Charles) Piutau, there is a lot of other players leaving as well, I don’t know. Big questions.”
Hamilton added: “When you look at Bristol, they are now seventh, they should be a top-four side with the players that they have got. You have got Ellis Genge, England captain/vice-captain. You have got Semi Radradra, one of the best players in the league albeit he was injured at the beginning of the season.
“You have got Charles Piutau, a million-pound player. Kyle Sinckler at tighthead, you’ve got (Steven) Lautua in the back row as well just to name a few and you’re thinking they are not going to make the top four at the end of the Premiership season. They have underachieved this year and obviously last year considering they were semi-finalists before that.”
Race for the Prem Top 4 heats up with Matt Rogerson ??
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— The Rugby Pod (@TheRugbyPod) March 28, 2023
Comments on RugbyPass
Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause
6 Go to commentsNo way. If you are trying to picture New Zealand rugby with an All Blacks mindset, there have been two factors instrumental to the decline of NZ rugby to date. Those are the horror that the Blues have become and, probably more so, the fixture that the Crusaders became. I don’t think it was healthy to have one team so dominant for so long, both for lack of proper representation of players from outside that environment and on the over reliance on players from within it. If you are another international side, like Ireland for example, sure. You can copy paste something succinct from one level to the next and experience a huge increase in standards, but ultimately you will not be maximizing it, which is what you need to perform to the level the ABs do. Added to that is the apathy that develops in the whole game as a result of one sides dominance. NZ, Super, and Championship rugby should all experience a boom as a result of things balancing out. That said, there is a lot of bad news happening in NZ rugby recently, and I’m not sure the game can be handled well enough here to postpone the always-there feeling of inevitable decline of rugby.
6 Go to commentsNo SA supporter miss Super Rugby - a product that is experiencing significant head wind in ANZ - the competition from rival codes are intense, match attendance figures are at a historical low and the negativity of commentators such as Kirwan and Wilson have accelerated the downward spiral in NZ. After the next RWC in 2027 sponsors will follow Qantas and start leaving in droves.
2 Go to commentsLike others, I am not seeing the connection between this edition of the Crusaders and the All Blacks future prospects under Razor. I think the analysis of the Crusaders attack recently is helpful because Razor and his coaching team used to be able to slot new guys in to their systems and see them succeed. Several of Razor’s coaches are still there so it would be surprising if the current attack and set piece has been overhauled to a great extent - but based on that analysis, it may have been. Whether it is too many new guys due to injuries or retirement or a failure of current Crusaders systems is the main question to be answered imo. It doesn’t seem relevant for the ABs.
6 Go to commentsharry potter is set in stone. he creates stability and finishes well. exactly what schmidt likes. he’s the ben smith of australian rugby. i think it could quite easily be potter toole and kellaway for the foreseeable future.
5 Go to commentsThis is short sighted from Clayton if you ask me, smacks of too much preseason planning and no adaptability. What if DMac is out for a must win match, are they still only going to bring their best first five and playmaker on late in the game? Trusting the game to someone who wasn’t even part of planning (they would have had Trask pinned in as Jacomb preseason). Perhaps if the Crusaders were better they would not have done this, but either way imo you take this opportunity to play a guy you might need starting in a final rather than having their 12th game getting comfortable coming off the bench.
1 Go to commentsThanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.
21 Go to commentsWhat a load of bollocks. The author has forgotten to mention the fact that the Crusaders have a huge injury toll with top world class players out. Not to mention the fact that they are obviously in a transition period. No this will not spark a slow death for NZ rugby, but it does mean there will be a new Super Rugby champion. Anyone who knows anything about NZ rugby knows that there is some serious talent here, it just isn’t all at the Crusaders.
6 Go to commentsI wouldn’t spend the time on Nawaqanitawase! No point in having him filling in a jersey when he’s committed to leave Union. Give the jersey to a young prospect who will be here in the future.
5 Go to commentsIt was a pleasure to watch those guys playing with such confidence. That trio can all be infuriating for different reasons and I can see why Jones might have decided against them. No way to justify leaving Ikitau out though. Jorgensen and him were both scheduled to return at the same time. Only one of them plays for Randwick and has a dad who is great mates with the national coach though.
53 Go to commentsBrayden Iose and Peter Lakai are very exciting Super Rugby players but are too short and too light to ever be a Test 8 vs South Africa, France, Ireland, and England, Lakai could potentially be a Test player at 7 if he is allowed to focus on 7 for Hurricanes.
7 Go to commentsPencils “Thomas du Toit” into possible 2027 Bok squad.
1 Go to commentsDon’t see why Harrison makes the bench. Jones can play at 10 if needed, and there is a good case for starting her there to begin with if testing combinations. That would leave room for Sing on the bench
1 Go to commentsWhat a load of old bull!
1 Go to commentsOf the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.
29 Go to commentsIrish Rugby CEO be texting Andy Farrell “Andy, i found our next Kiwi Irishman”
5 Go to commentsI certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
2 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
2 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to comments