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'Thanks for all the Twitter TMO reviews' - Genge responds to headbutt accusations
By Ian Cameron
England loosehead Ellis Genge has responded to claims that he headbutted Welsh prop Tomas Francis in his side's Autumn Nations Cup win over Wales at Parc Y Scarlets.
England ran out 24 - 13 victors over the hosts, but tempers flared on a number of occasions during the Pool A match.
Video emerged online of what appeared to be a head strike by Genge on the Welshman that lead to a mass scuffle in the 74th minute. Former England flyhalf Andy Goode tweeted the video, saying: 'Thoughts on this? Some say headbutt some say nothing'.
Now Genge has responded to the claim.
"Thanks for all the Twitter TMO reviews but I didn’t headbutt anyone, thanks for all the messages of support for today - love this group!"
He was backed up by among others, Welsh rugby writer Paul Williams, who wrote: "Looked like LCD [Luke Cowan Dickie] pushed him from behind to me. Lost his balance. Fell forward. If he had headbutted a player there would have been a massive reaction from the Welsh boys. There wasn't. Camera angle doesn't help either."
Certainly the on field reaction after the incident suggested that there hadn't been a head to head contact, although time will tell whether the Bristol-born prop is hauled up to a disciplinary panel.
Despite how close the sides were at halftime, head coach Eddie Jones seemed pleased with the away win. "At halftime it could have been a 'Psycho' horror movie. The woman goes to the shower and you know what's coming from behind the shower curtain."
"Wales did a few things at the end of the first half to put us off our game and then we had a choice at halftime of how would we react. Would we allow them to continue to do that or do we stick to our game?
"The boys showed really good tactical discipline to stick to our game. We had one little wonky period for around 10 minutes in the second half but generally we had game control so I was really pleased about that."
England now top Pool A with three wins from three.
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Agree with Wilson B- at best. And that is down to skilled individual players who know how to play the game - not a cohesive squad who know their roles and game plan. For those who claim that takes time to develop, the process is to keep the game plan simple at first and add layers as the squad gels and settles in to the new systems. Lack of progress against the rush D, lack of penetration and innovation in the mid-field, basic skill errors and loose forwards coming second in most big games all still evident in game 14 of the season. Hard to see significant measureable progress.
Go to commentsKeep telling yourself that. The time for a fresh broom is at the beginning - not some "balanced, incremental" (i.e. status quo) transition. All teams establish the way forward at the beginning. This coaching group lacked ideas and courage and the players showed it on the pitch. Backs are only average. Forwards are unbalanced and show good set piece but no domination in traditional AB open play. Unfortunately, Foster - Mark 2. You may be happy with those performances and have some belief in some "cunning plan" but I don't see any evidence of it. Rassie is miles ahead and increasing the gap.
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