'When you've been in the gutter and you've seen the resurgence, that's when you really feel pride'
Ellis Genge knows his time with Leicester Tigers is rapidly coming to an end and having helped pull the club out of the “gutter” is determined the Premiership semi-final play off with arch-rivals Northampton will not see the curtain fall on Saturday.
Genge, who is returning to Bristol at the end of this campaign after nearly seven years in the Midlands, has captained Leicester to finish top of the Premiership at the end of the regular season having been part of the squad that languished in 11th place in successive seasons before the arrival of Steve Borthwick in 2020 allowed them to finish sixth last season.
Now, having made history by being the first Premiership team to be top after every round of the competition this season, Genge is two wins away from lifting the trophy at Twickenham.
There have been tough times during his Tigers career and Genge addressed that in today’s media conference and explained the difficult periods made the current success so much sweeter. He said: “I was proud to run out when we were 11th on a 13-game losing streak. The pride never disappears. Imagine you had everything brilliant and you finished top your whole career and you never knew anything different. When you’ve been down in the gutter and you’ve seen the resurgence, that’s when you really feel pride.
“I’ve taken pride in the whole process and that’s probably why this team has got to where it is now. Otherwise it wouldn’t have happened. If we didn’t have pride when we were 11th, we wouldn’t have got to where we are now because we wouldn’t have cared.
“I would be lying if I didn’t say I have been thinking about it being my last game at the stadium and I am still visualising how it will look like and how I want it to feel. I just want to just completely empty the tank for the supporters who have been there throughout.”
While taking the club to a Twickenham final against either Saracens or Harlequins would give Tigers the chance of a first league title for nine years, it would not earn Genge a special tie which is something that he admits is “gutting.”
He explained: “I’ve been here almost seven years now. I think I’ll finish on 98 starts, and you don’t get a tie until 100, so that’s a bit gutting. I’ve had for the most part a great relationship with the fans I think. They’re a great set of fans. We went through that low period 2017-2019 where the relationship wasn’t great between players and fans, for obvious reasons. We weren’t performing so they put us under a lot of heat.
“I feel like we’ve come out the other side and the stadium is bouncing again and you can really feel that player-fan bond walking round. It’s quite personal, hearing them shouting your name, standing ovations when the boys come off the pitch. It’s excellent. Even internationally it’s one of the top stadiums I’ve played in. It’s a special place.
“I have a few derbies in my time but the East Midlands one would be up there as one of the most prolific. You have to beat the drum when the time is right and not start going nuts and spitting flames too early and you have to wait til Friday and Saturday for the Any Given Sunday speeches. There is a time and a place for those and they will definitely come.”
Genge,who has made a significant impact as captain, paid tribute to the influence of head coach Steve Borthwick and his fellow coaches, including Aled Walters who helped South Africa win the 2019 Rugby World Cup. “I think there are a few unsung heroes who like to be unsung heroes:” Genge added. “ Steve is absolutely incredible, as you probably know by now. He’s a well-decorated coach who probably doesn’t get the plaudits he deserved. I’m so happy he’s finally getting some recognition for being such a good operator. He works tirelessly, so he deserves it.
Fans absolutely incredible as you have been all year, unfortunately didn’t come up trumps but we got a bit to go yet. Thank you.
— Gengey (@EllisGenge) May 7, 2022
“You’ve heard all about Aled being the energy-giver that he is. There are some brilliant people at this club who don’t put their name in the hat too often that I am really going to miss dearly. I’m looking forward to making the most of my time with them over the next however many days.”
One aspect of leading Tigers that Genge is still wary about is the entry to the Mattioli Woods Welford Road pitch which involves travelling down concrete steps with fans either side of the players. “I have almost slipped a couple of times because unlike the backs we don’t wear moulds and smaller studs and there are little ledges on the steps and so you have to think about coming down them. I tend to hop over the steps and hopefully I don’t fall on Saturday.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Farcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
7 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
7 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar 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.
11 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.
61 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.
7 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
61 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 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
61 Go to comments