Ellis Genge has blasted the negative reaction that greeted England’s 16-15 victory against Scotland, declaring it “blew his mind” that they would be criticised for regaining the Calcutta Cup.
England squeezed past Scotland at the Allianz Stadium to keep their Six Nations title hopes alive, however they were outscored three tries to one and were indebted to fly-half Finn Russell failing to land a conversion.
During the match, sections of the crowd booed England’s box-kicking tactics while Steve Borthwick’s team received little praise for ending their five-year losing run against the Scots, with Telegraph Sport columnist Will Greenwood declaring “they simply play no rugby”. Yet having lost seven successive matches against tier-one opposition before defeating France 26-25, Genge is mystified that England should be panned for securing back-to-back victories.
“I don’t know, it feels like we can’t win, to be honest,” the Bristol prop said. “It’s like, damned if you do, damned if you don’t. We lost to Australia in the autumn, everyone was like, ‘brilliant, look how they [England] moved the ball. 38 points they scored.’ But we lost. So who gives a f---? You lost the game.
“Do you want to be part of a team that wins every single game by one point? Yeah. Would you still look at it negatively then? Or would you rather be part of a team that loses every single week, 40-39. I know what type of team I want to be [on]. It is difficult as a player to digest the fact that people were disappointed that we just won the Calcutta Cup back after five years or however long it’s been. We won the game and people are still upset about it. It blew my mind to be honest.
“I love the fans, I think they’re brilliant, I go round clapping them after every game. I love them, when they’re on their feet, singing, what a stadium. But post-game, and ex-players, recently retired and long retired, and people from years and years ago, I just can’t believe how out of touch they are, the spiel that I’m reading from people saying how off it we are. We won two games on the bounce and you’re upset about it, I don’t get it. I’m confused. We’ve won our past two games, and apparently we should have lost them. Let me know when we should start winning.”
Genge was not in the best of moods at the LNER Community Stadium in York. His son has chicken pox while his wife is 37-weeks pregnant, which could cause him to miss the final round trip to Wales on March 15 if she goes into labour. “Of course, that is your main role, as a father you have got to be there for your family, as a provider,” Genge said.
His disposition has not been helped by pundits, including former team-mate Ben Youngs on the For the Love of Rugby podcast, critiquing England’s kick-heavy tactics. While Genge’s club side, Bristol Bears, play one of the most enterprising brands of rugby in the Premiership, the 30-year-old says that it is naive to assume that England could replicate that style at Test level.
“It’s very different,” Genge said. “You cannot compare the two. In club rugby, you’ve got your bottom, which is down here, and your top, which is up here. Two years ago, you had Semi Radradra playing against people who had been pulled in from universities. At Test level you haven’t got that, so you don’t have as much time and space. If it were that easy, everyone would be doing it, but they’re not, are they?
“If you take the Australia game out of it, against Ireland at home last year, we beat them and we actually moved the ball quite well, because the game permitted that. People were really happy with it. On the flip side, with this [Scotland] game, we didn’t play the most expansive rugby, it was tight, it was nitty-gritty. We won three scrum penalties but no one speaks about that.
“Being able to box clever and being able to fight on the inside and the out, that is a strength of ours; being able to adapt. Sometimes the game is ugly and in the last three games we haven’t thrown the ball about and done what the fans want to see every week, but that is Test rugby. If you want to see that, come to Ashton Gate. If you want to see some mental rugby, that’s where you find it.
“I understand from a fans’ perspective; what you want to see. You want to see us coming through with back-door off-loads and no-look chip-and-chase. But it don’t win Test matches. It don’t win Test matches. I think as well, Scotland kicked the ball more than us, or definitely further. They had a straight-bat strategy as well, but everyone said how brilliant they were. They moved the ball to the edge well, but that’s what Scotland do, it’s not what we do at the moment. But it’s one of them; we won the game.”
‘I want credit for winning’
Next up England host an Italian side who France ran 11 tries past in Rome. Having never lost to the Azzurri, England will be expected to win handsomely, which as Genge says creates another “no-win” scenario for the team. Assistant coach Kevin Sinfield says it is a particularly English trait to criticise a team that is winning, which Genge concurs with.
“I feel like it is,” Genge said. “Let’s not be naive, you can feel it that people – as you alluded to – were booing when we were playing. It’s the feeling at the moment, for whatever reason, it is the way it is. What was the score in the [2023 World Cup] semi final? 16-15. Did anyone slag them [South Africa] off?
“Look at Wales on the weekend, everyone was buzzing about how they played against Ireland and they lost by, what, 11 points? No one was slamming Wales were they? But we won by a point and suddenly the headlines were negative for us. It’s a weird spot. I think the world is in a weird place, so it doesn’t surprise me.
“I don’t want more credit for anything, honestly, I mean that. What I have just said there is not me having a stab at the fans or anything like that. I want people to understand I know we are not playing the most loose rugby, I don’t want credit for playing the most loose rugby. I want credit for winning, that is what we are in, we are in a results business, it is black, it is white, you either win or you lose or you draw. But when we win, to have a bitter taste in our mouth is confusing. After four years of trauma to win something back and almost have a negative feel about it was upsetting for me.”
