'I don’t suppose it will ever happen again': Ellis Genge

Ellis Genge admitted he could hardly feel his legs after the player nicknamed ‘Baby Rhino’ rampaged to a rare and wonderful 50-yard try in Bristol’s mauling of Harlequins.

The England prop, who was replaced but then returned due to an HIA to a team-mate, scored one of the Bears’ six tries in a one-sided 40-14 Premiership victory, which lifted them up to fifth place in the table.

He needed treatment for cramp from his mobbing team-mates, and conceded: “I couldn’t feel my legs at the end of it! It’s not every day I run that far to score a try.

“But I saw a gap and just put my head down and ran. I was definitely never going to pass it, but I don’t suppose it will ever happen again!”

Genge added: “Not a bad Christmas present is it! A big win and try like that! It was a great team performance.

“We feel we have something very good happening at the club, and our hard work in training is coming to fruition. We finished things off in Europe in good style and now we’re up there near the top in the league, and building some momentum.”

Bristol boss Pat Lam enthused: “That’s Ellis at his best. He’s hard to stop in that mood. He is such a weapon for us and his try was typical of him, seeing the opportunity and gap and putting his head down and charging through.

“But I was pleased with the whole team. We set about it in the right, positive manner and had the game under control by half-time.

“It’s a nice way to start the PREM games again and puts us right near the top. We now need to build on it.”

Lam praised Wales star Louis Rees-Zammit, who scored a first-half try, and added: “Louis has fitted in really well after returning from his NFL spell in the States.

“He’s an outstanding lad who can switch from wing to full-back, where he played tonight. He can do special things and that’s what he did here with his try.”

Dejected Quins boss Jason Gilmore, who side have managed just two wins in seven Gallagher PREM games, was unimpressed with the Londoners’ lack of physicality in a first half where they failed to score.

He admitted: “It is very disappointing. We were not in the contest for 40 minutes and just could not get a foothold in it. All the guys were excited about playing another Big Game at this stadium, but we started poorly.

“The half-time talk was about rolling our sleeves up and having a go. And we showed some commitment. We did that in the second half, but you shouldn’t have to wait to half-time to roll your sleeves up and fight.

“I thought we were in a pretty good spot going into the contest, but things just didn’t go to plan at all.”