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Ellis Genge: 'I'm not perfect by any measure, I promise you that'
By Liam Heagney
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.
"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."
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Latest Comments
This is true.
But perhaps because rugby is Australia’s fourth (or worse) most popular sport, there is just no coaching talent good enough.
It’s interesting that no players from the Aussies golden era (say between 1987 - 2000) have emerged as international quality coaches. Or coaches at all.
Again, Australians are the problem methinks. Not as interested in the game. Not as interested to support the game. Not as interested to get into the game.
And like any other industry in the world - when you don’t have the capabilities or the skills, you import them.
Not difficult to understand really.
Go to commentsi think Argentina v France could be a good game too, depending on which Argentina turns up. The most difficult to call is Scotland Australia.
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