Leicester have given their verdict on whether first time captain Ellis Genge will skipper them again

Geordan Murphy has hinted that Wednesday night's record Premiership defeat to Wasps hasn't wrecked the hopes of Ellis Genge skippering Leicester again at some stage in the future. The England loosehead became the club's fifth different matchday captain in six post-lockdown games when given the responsibility for the trip to the Ricoh. 

It was the first time in his 74 appearances for the club that the 25-year-old prop was awarded the captaincy and despite the awful 54-7 defeat which materialised, director of rugby Murphy was impressed by Genge's attitude and the blunt way he spoke in the aftermath of Leicester's 13th defeat in 19 outings in the 2019/20 league campaign. 

"We had a young side and we really felt that Ellis would do a good job as captain and in tough circumstances he did," enthused Murphy, finding a ray of sunshine to cling to following a defeat he described as the worst ever during his career at the club which stretches back to 1997.  

"He has been really interesting since his arrival to work with and to deal with and one of the things Ellis brings is a huge passion. He is hugely committed to being here at Tigers and as a result I thought he was the right man for the job as captain of the side. 

"I thought he did a good job and I was really impressed with the way he spoke after the game in tough circumstances and definitely it's a string he can add to his bow. As he said, he is not your stereotypical rugby player but certainly Ellis likes to lead by actions and he does that."

Aside from Tom Youngs, the club captain for a number of past seasons, being skipper for the matches with Exeter and London Irish, Leicester have had Ben White (v Bath), Thom Smith (v Gloucester), George Ford (v Sale) and now Genge (v Wasps) take it in turns to lead the team post-lockdown. 

They have now reverted back to hooker Youngs as captain for Sunday's home meeting with Northampton, a game that sees Ben Youngs, his scrum-half brother, make his 250th appearance for the club.