Ellis Genge: 'I'm not perfect by any measure, I promise you that'

Ellis Genge had acknowledged that the captaincy at Leicester will result in more focus being placed on him in the coming season but he hopes he won’t be portrayed in a negative light because of it. The 26-year-old was asked last month by Steve Borthwick to take over the captaincy at Tigers from the long-serving Tom Youngs.

Having served as vice-captain for the England summer series last July, becoming skipper at Leicester is a responsibility Genge has happily embraced in recent weeks but he knows there are pitfalls to a position where he is expected to be a role model at all times and he hinted that being squeaky clean 100 per cent of the time was unlikely.

Asked by RugbyPass how proud he was to become captain at one of England’s biggest rugby clubs, Genge replied: “Proud, is that the word? I mean my family and friends and stuff are proud of me. I am not necessarily proud of myself. I think it’s a sort of double edge sword because you get given these roles and responsibilities, sometimes it can change you.

What happened when RugbyPass went behind the scenes at the Leicester academy

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What happened when RugbyPass went behind the scenes at the Leicester academy

“You can become more of a role model, you have got captaincy, you have got people looking at you to do the right thing all the time but it is one of the first things I said to the boys, ‘Look, I’m not perfect by any measure, I promise you that, so I am going to make mistakes. That is part of being human, to be honest. 

“Everyone thinks that these rugby players and footballers aren’t going to make mistakes because they are in positions to make great role models but it doesn’t mean they can be a great role model all the time. If you are a great role model 90 per cent of the time and be yourself the other ten per cent then you are probably doing alright… we’ll keep it that way hopefully.” 

"I was actually at Pennyhill Park on Tuesday. I was looking for him and I saw his wife and his little dog. We get the odd message." @SDLegion @ChrisRobshaw on Eddie Jones, life post @EnglandRugby & @Harlequins and the BaBas fiasco, writes @heagneyl ???https://t.co/daJ8J1EYFn

— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 16, 2021