Ellis Genge: 'I messaged Ollie and said: 'Are you OK?'
England prop Ellis Genge hopes players from crisis club Worcester do not get “shafted” after saying friends were hit hard financially by Premiership Rugby’s salary cap.
Worcester’s players and staff must wait to discover their fate, with the Gallagher Premiership club reportedly on the brink of administration after a winding-up petition over unpaid tax was issued by HM Revenue & Customs.
Former Worcester chief executive Jim O’Toole is spearheading a newly-formed consortium with investment from a US company to save the club from administration.
But the future of the Warriors, who include current England internationals Ollie Lawrence and Ted Hill, remains uncertain.
New Bristol signing Genge said: “I’ve got a few mates there and I messaged Ollie and said: ‘Are you OK?’ He said there’s been some discrepancies with their pay and stuff like that. It’s bleak.
“I’d like to see Worcester stay in the Prem. It’s a good club, and hopefully they can sort it out.
“I just feel everything is always on everyone else’s terms (and not the players). I feel we’re extremely vulnerable in that situation.
“I’ve been told Bristol handled that Covid period really well, but as you’ve seen in recent years contracts have been literally paper-thin.
“They didn’t mean much, and hopefully those boys don’t get shafted because that would be absolutely gruesome.”
Premiership clubs decided to reduce the £6.4million salary cap in place for the 2020-21 campaign to £5m for last season.
The reduction came in the wake of Saracens being relegated from the top flight in 2020 for past breaches of the cap, and the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Genge said: “You’ve seen the constraints of the cap already and how many squad players have been left with no contracts.
“Quite a few of my friends are in that situation, which is horrible. You’ve got mid-level squad players and first-team players now having to take more than a 50 per cent pay cut and going down levels.
“You always hear people say ‘you get paid enough’, but you put your body through a lot and yourself at a lot of risk.
“Your neck hurts all the time, you go through a lot in 10 years. Sacrifice everything to be your best in that 10 years. Then imagine having to go and start a whole different career after that.
“It’s a lot of sacrifice for quite a high-risk job. So at least you’d like to think everyone would get looked after in that 10 years, but it’s not the case.
“I hope Worcester are going to help everyone out. I just don’t want to see anyone kicked out on their arse.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen if they actually go under. But maybe some dispensation for the other clubs, increase the cap by 10 per cent, and scoop up some players.”
Genge left his hometown club Bristol in February 2016 to join Leicester.
He ended his six-year stay in the east Midlands in June by leading the Tigers to the Premiership title.
“It’s a completely different club with different morals and values, everything,” Genge said of his return to Ashton Gate.
“I take a lot of pride in being a Bristolian. I’ve always had a pull on coming back, but I was reasonably reluctant the way it went (before).
“But in recent years family pulled on me coming back and Covid definitely shone a light on it.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
43 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
2 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
43 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
43 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
2 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
6 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
6 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to comments