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First-time skipper Ellis Genge issues blunt assessment of unacceptable record Leicester loss
Ellis Genge has laid it on the line to the Leicester squad following their record Gallagher Premiership defeat at Wasps, the first-time Tigers skipper accepting their effort in the 54-7 Ricoh Arena hammering wasn’t good enough. The England loosehead has had an interesting few months at the club, going from shelving plans to start a new players’ union to signing a contract extension and then captaining the side in his 74th appearance.
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Despite the multiple changes during the lockdown layoff, Leicester’s performances have continued to disappoint and but for Saracens’ automatic relegation for their salary cap regulation breaches, the famed East Midlands club would be in the relegation spot and fearing the drop to the Championship in the next few weeks.
Just five of 19 matches have been won in the league this season and they next welcome local rivals Northampton to Welford Road on Sunday in an effort to improve a post-lockdown run where they have lost five of their six matches and conceded 201 points.
It has not been the start the new Steve Borthwick era at Leicester was looking for and Genge claimed the poor run won’t be ignored. Speaking to LLTV prior to leaving the Ricoh following their latest defeat, he said: “Obviously, you’re going to say sorry to the fans. It’s not good enough, we know that. It’s never good enough to play like that ever in any circumstance, irrespective of what squad you have got out.
“We’re not alien to it – we know exactly what is expected of us. We expect to come here and win. We probably looked the better outfit for the first ten. It was about sustaining that and keeping going and we didn’t do that.”
🎦 𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗧-𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗧
A blunt and brutal assessment of the unacceptable loss from Ellis Genge on 𝗟𝗧𝗧𝗩… pic.twitter.com/QKlY09GYIb
— Leicester Tigers (@LeicesterTigers) September 9, 2020
Asked if there was a plan, he bit: “Of course there was. The idea was to f**kin’ win. Like, I said, we looked good for the first ten and no one can argue with that. We put so much pressure and so much heat, they didn’t know what to do. Slowly but surely the tries kept trickling in, then the floodgates opened. That’s what happens when you go within yourself and you don’t stick to the game plan and you come off-script. We just didn’t play well for 60 of those minutes – we just started to surrender.”
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The 47-point, eight-tries to-one losing margin wasn’t what Genge was expecting in his first go as skipper, especially as Leicester had taken an early 7-0 lead. “What a club to be a captain of, to lead those boys out. Honestly, I was buzzing all week.
“We have got a baby due today, so it was always a tough role to be put into if you were thinking about those two things, but I was completely focused on the game and we came out firing. So proud of the boys for that first ten and then the wheels came off, didn’t they? That’s just never good enough any day of the week.
“We have got a brilliant coaching team, some very senior players. I don’t think they have ever experienced a loss like that. I haven’t. Certainly in a Leicester shirt, we have been in some dark places over the past few years and that was definitely one of the darker ones.
“That is not something to be proud of today. Even with the first ten minutes, it’s not something to be proud of in any aspect of the word. I said to the boys let’s put the shirt in a better place and I don’t think any of us did that.
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“We won’t shy away from it. It definitely will be addressed and we’re looking to fix it. People at home, obviously sometimes it looks like the boys don’t want to be here, that no-one is trying, but I can assure you the work that goes in behind the scenes is relentless. We are training better than ever before. Sometimes it just doesn’t happen on the night. That was a prime example.
“You can’t expect anything,” he added about the harsh lessons learned. “Nothing is given to you in this world, anything ever. If you turn up like that and expect your job to be done for you you’re going to get rolled like we did. Just made them look so good and it was easy for them.
“Boys will learn a lot from that, myself included, especially in the captaincy side of things. You run out of things to say. What can you say when you’re 40 points down? You can’t just keep saying the same things and it’s not happening. Probably a learning experience for me in that respect but there is a lot of work to be done. We were going in the right direction and then, like I said, to take our eye off the ball, something like that happens.”
Tigers scraping the barrel at this dire rate https://t.co/jjtAueFP9z
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 9, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Following his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
1 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to comments