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'Immense leader on the p***': Ex-teammate's Genge captaincy quip
By Liam Heagney
Steve Borthwick’s decision this past week to make Ellis Genge the new Leicester Tigers club captain has been warmly welcomed by Sam Harrison, the scrum-half who quit playing in January 2020 to embark on a new life away from rugby in Australia.
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It was during their week-long pre-season camp in Jersey when Leicester confirmed that Genge would take over the captaincy from the long-serving Tom Youngs and it prompted a reaction from Harrison that the loosehead retweeted on his own social media account.
“So happy to see @EllisGenge announced as @LeicesterTigers skips. Immense leader on the pitch. Immense leader on the piss. Boys will be in compulsory Dsquared and Stone Island post-match in no time. @TomYoungs87 has been absolutely immense in his time as captain also.”
Harrison’s opinion promoted a response from a number of Leicester fans, including one who quipped: “Congrats but isn’t it a bit like letting a child organise a fireworks display or Hannibal Lecter being given the keys to the jail or even The Krays organising a night out in London on a Saturday? Just saying…”
The ex-scrum-half, though, quickly jumped to his old pal’s defence, insisting the decision to give Genge the captaincy will have only a positive impact in the Leicester dressing room.
Congrats ???? but isn’t it a bit like letting a child organise a fireworks display or Hannibal Lecter being given the keys to the jail or even The Krays organising a night out in London on a Saturday ? Just saying ????
— Steve Morris (@officialstevoid) August 27, 2021
“Far from it,” replied Harrison. “Only time will tell but Gengey has a natural ability to bring together a whole changing room like no one else. I am genuinely very excited to watch Tigers this year. And Ellis being captain only adds to it!”
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Genge himself tweeted his delight at getting the honour of skippering his club following a summer where England boss Eddie Jones appointed him as vice-captain for the July Test matches versus the USA and Canada.
“Thanks for all the kind messages,” he wrote. “I’ve learnt a lot off of younger in the past five seasons that will help me along this path. I will give everything I have to add to the great history of this club, on and off the field.”
After announcing the change to the Leicester leadership group, Borthwick said: “Ellis epitomises what we, Leicester Tigers, are about – hard work, toughness and a desire to continue to improve. He has set the example in everything that he does on and off the pitch since I arrived at Tigers and possesses a great ability to bring people together.”
TRANSFERS
Steve Borthwick has been busy in the market even though Leicester are away on a week-long camp in Jerseyhttps://t.co/rMhFW6uBRG
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 27, 2021
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Merci Shawn,
Go to commentsThe All Blacks and their continued success basically fund the entire game here. In countries with much bigger economies and larger rugby audiences they can push players more knowing that irrespective of rep or club teams success the size of their economy means that they will always get decent crowd buy in and hides the fact that it is the game itself that is deterring crowd attendance here in NZ. It seems that NZRU have made the decision that the All Blacks, rightly, must be kept in the best position to win to secure the future of the game here possibly, as some have opinioned, at the expense of super rugby. In my view they have to do this because they know that the local game cannot financially stand on its own and frankly as a live spectacle more often than not the games are a done deal before kick off. There are too many rules and too many opportunities for referees and TMO s to stop the game. Too often live crowds are sitting watching nothing. Who wants to watch hookers scoring more tries than wingers? Until the game is, for example, rid of legalised obstruction at the rolling maul which seems to be the aim for every pro team and the game is played wider with no fear of playing with the ball in your half in case the ref spots some minor technical indiscretion, teams will continue to scrum for a penalty, kick for the corner and rolling maul it. Who wants to watch that? That is why no one is going to games - because the viewing experience is rubbish irrespective of whether a couple of All Blacks are playing or not. The NZRU need to get their big boy pants on and do something about the rules.
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