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Tigers prop Ellis Genge's admission over British & Irish Lions snub
Two-try Leicester prop Ellis Genge starred as Tigers beat Worcester 18-17 at Sixways before revealing he had given himself a pep talk after missing out on British and Irish Lions selection.
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Warriors had held a 17-6 lead but once again failed to capitalise on their advantage and fell to a 19th consecutive defeat, with their only win this season coming in their opening fixture against London Irish back in November.
Two penalties and a conversion from Zack Henry completed the scoring for Leicester.
Ted Hill and Jamie Shillcock scored Worcester’s tries, with Shillcock adding two conversions and a penalty.
Recent performances from Genge show that he was unlucky not to be selected for the Lions, as he has certainly been the form loosehead in the last month.
Genge said: “It was disappointing not to be selected for the Lions so I had a word with myself. I accepted that my performances had probably not been good enough.
“It’s not often you get over the whitewash and my last five tries have come from a total of 10 metres.
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“When you get a penalty close to their line and you are in the ascendancy, you should be looking at picking up and going and I can’t understand why more teams don’t do it.
“After all this rain, it was nice to play on a fast track but the game got ugly and hard at times.
“We have to build consistency as we know we can’t get into the top four so it’s important we don’t take our foot off the gas as this certainly wasn’t our best performance.”
Worcester captain Hill reflected on another defeat.
He said: “It’s a tough result to take again. They are a really strong side who are very physical and we weren’t clinical enough in their 22.
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“We gave them a couple of cheap tries and again we’ll have to look at ourselves and learn.
“We will review it on Monday and will take the emotion out of it as we are dying to get a result for it’s everything to our fans.”
Worcester head coach Jonathan Thomas agreed.
He said: “It feels like groundhog day as I’m saying the same sort of narrative every week.
“The key thing was the scrum and contact as we were up against a formidable side in that area.
“We’ve had seven or eight games like that this season but we’ve not managed to get over the line and we just need to have a bit more experience.
“I told the boys not to be devastated by the scoreboard as I’m confident it will change but today we had opportunities to win it but we are not nailing key things when under pressure.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Bar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
9 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
35 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
35 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
35 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
35 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. All the Kiwis sticking up for this unprincipled individual because they can't accept justified criticism, he has zero credibility or integrity. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
35 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
35 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
2 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
35 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
18 Go to comments