Ellis Genge on why England didn't descend into 'bitching and moaning'
Ellis Genge insists England’s ability to withstand a customary Wales fightback at Twickenham is a result of the closer ties forged off the pitch.
A theme of Eddie Jones’ tenure has been the vulnerability when a comfortable lead begins to dissolve under pressure from defiant opposition, a weakness that was most brutally exposed during a 38-38 draw with Scotland in 2019.
The tendency to collapse abruptly was also evident in Cardiff last year but when a 17-0 lead was threatened by Wales in the second half on Saturday, England rallied to win 23-19 in the Guinness Six Nations round three clash.
The home pack, with Genge acting as their spearhead, provided the necessary resilience as the result hung in the balance at 17-12 and the Leicester prop credits the removal of past cliques for the tenacity shown.
In his recent book ‘Leadership’, Jones spoke of the harmful ripples caused by Saracens’ influence on the squad culminating in a fifth-place finish in the 2021 Six Nations.
“In previous years we would probably have started bitching a little bit at each other, shouting. We would have become a little bit disjointed,” said Genge in reference to the response after Nick Tompkins ran in the second of Wales’ three tries.
“But there wasn’t one minute out there, even when we conceded two on the bounce in reasonably quick succession, when any of us were bitching or moaning at each other. It was ‘what’s the next job?’. That’s what you saw out there.
“It has come from changes off the pitch. We’ve got a huge focus on togetherness. It’s a bit of a cliche, but we’re all genuinely tight. We spend so much time with each other off the pitch.
“There are genuine relationships in this squad now as opposed to in the years gone by when it might have been a little bit cliquey perhaps.
“There’s not a divide between senior and young. We’re all really good friends and that probably shows out on the pitch.”
England were beaten 3-1 on the try count and while Genge admits “it maybe wasn’t our best performance”, they remain the title hunt with fixtures against Ireland at Twickenham and France in Paris completing their campaign.
History was made as Ben Youngs stepped off the bench to win his 115th cap and become England’s most capped male player, beating the record held since 2000 by Jason Leonard.
What a moment for Ben Youngs ? #SixNations #ENGvWAL pic.twitter.com/3sPbzXrAtZ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 26, 2022
Genge was delighted for his Leicester team-mate, who has the nickname ‘Lenny’, and also paid tribute to his friend and front-row colleague Kyle Sinckler, who won his 50th cap.
“I’m over the moon that two of my close friends achieved such great things,” the England vice-captain said.
“We had a little meeting on Friday night when we said some nice words about Lenny. I bought him a mug, a tea mug. He likes a cup of tea, our Len,” Genge said.
“I bought him a mug with a picture of us when he made his 100th. He scored a try and I jumped on top of him to celebrate. I put a picture of that onto a mug.
“And I bought him a card with loads of pictures on. A collage I think they call it in France.
“Kyle’s a world-class operator. He’ll be the first to say he’s not always the coolest of heads. But when he’s on it, he’s a great operator.
“People don’t see the hours and hours he puts in off the pitch to get his body right for the boys on the weekend.
“He’s selfish with his body to make himself selfless on the weekend. He’s a serious Test player. A kid from Mitcham who no one ever thought would get one cap, let alone 50.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments