'Oxford was a long time ago... we had a straightener in the car park to sort it out'
Ellis Genge insists England are ready to take on Ireland’s scrum after grinding Georgia into submission in a 40-0 Autumn Nations Cup victory at Twickenham.
Two fiery training sessions against Los Lelos – the most recent of which ended in a fight – were avenged in a forward-dominated battle that produced a staggering 17 scrums, 31 line-outs and 11 mauls.
It was a predictable win fought out in driving rain that exposed the gulf in class between World Cup finalists and the game’s 12th ranked team, but it at least enabled England to test their forward depth.
A number of the personnel will be changed for the first true test of the autumn after Eddie Jones conceded that Ireland will pose different challenges, forcing “a rethink how we select the team”, and Genge believes a strong platform has been laid.
“This game puts us in good stead going into Ireland because they’re scrummaging quite well now. It will be a good battle there against Ireland,” Genge said.
“We were 7-0 up after 20-odd minutes. You’ve got to break teams like Georgia down and you get there in the end.
“In these forward battles, you’ve got to grind it out. Long scrums in the rain – it tires you out when you’re doing them for that long.
“This sets us up for what’s to come. It was a good performance but we’ve got a lot more in the tank. It shows how far we’ve come as a team to be able to get a result like that.
“When you do unit sessions and scrums during the week, you try not to empty the tank otherwise you can be quite sore. But then you get to a game like that and we had 17 scrums, which is loads.”
Genge was at the heart of the fisticuffs that exploded in Oxford in February 2019 when a live scrummaging session turned nasty, forcing coaching and backroom staff to separate the warring players.
A year earlier, England were taken apart at the scrum in a similarly charged afternoon of training in London as Georgia demonstrated a foundational strength of their game.
Since then, Los Lelos hooker Shalva Mamukashvili has joined Genge at Leicester Tigers and the two have buried the hatchet.
“Oxford was a long time ago. Shalva has come to the club and we had a straightener in the car park to sort it out!” Genge said.
“But no, he’s a good boy and we’ve got a lot of respect for each other. When you’ve dealt with the dark arts in the front row, you show a lot of mutual respect.
“Hats off to Georgia, they’re a great scrummaging side and we came out on top which we’re really pleased about.”
Jamie George was named man of the match after becoming the first England hooker to score a hat-trick of tries, each of them coming at the end of a line-out drive.
“We’re doing the hard yards and Jamie’s picking up the glory! Jamie’s a class act who has 51 caps for England for a reason,” Genge said.
Comments on RugbyPass
We dominated the scrums Ben Curry was all over pitch again .Surely James Harper got to be one of best English tightheads
1 Go to commentsRoos is a better option at 6 than 8 for the boks. Needs to work on his windgat though.
1 Go to commentsThe Sharks’ 2nd team maybe?
1 Go to comments‘radical’
1 Go to commentsCome back to Christchurch Robbie, please!
1 Go to commentsI think there is zero chance Sam Cane will be selected for another Test. There is simply no point except sentimentality. Razor is not sentimental- ask Wyatt Crocket. Razor is a ruthless selector
4 Go to comments> It would be best described as an elegant solution to what was potentially going to be a significant problem for new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson. It is a problem the mad population of New Zealand will have to cope with more and more as All Blacks are able to continue their careers in NZ post RWCs. It will not be a problem for coaches, who are always going to start a campaign with the captain for the next WC in mind. > Cane, despite his warrior spirit, his undoubted commitment to every team he played for and unforgettable heroics against Ireland in last year’s World Cup quarter-final, was never unanimously admired or respected within New Zealand while he was in the role. Neither was McCaw, he was considered far too passive a captain and then out of form until his last world cup where everyone opinions changed, just like they would have if Cane had won the WC. > It was never easy to see where Cane, or even if, he would fit into Robertson’s squad given the new coach will want to be building a new-look team with 2027 in mind. > Cane will win his selections on merit and come the end of the year, he’ll sign off, he hopes, with 100 caps and maybe even, at last, universal public appreciation for what was a special career. No, he won’t. Those returning from Japan have already earned the right to retain their jersey, it’s in their contract. Cane would have been playing against England if he was ready, and found it very hard to keep his place. Perform, and they keep it however. Very easy to see where Cane could have fit, very hard to see how he could have accomplished it choosing this year as his sabbatical instead of 2025, and that’s how it played out (though I assume we now know what when NZR said they were allowing him to move his sabbatical forward and return to NZ next year, they had actually agreed to simply select him for the All Blacks from overseas, without any chance he was going to play in NZ again). With a mammoth season of 15 All Black games they might as well get some value out of his years contract, though even with him being of equal character to Richie, I don’t think they should guarantee him his 100 caps. That’s not what the All Blacks should be about. He absolutely has to play winning football.
4 Go to commentswhat’s happening to Ian Peel?
1 Go to commentsAs a Crusaders fan , so disappointed , again.But I think Fergus Burke was all class for the Crusaders in his first game since October last year. Fletcher Newell , was so good at prop. Johnny McNicoll has been gold since returning from Wales. Noah Hotham brilliant , in a coming of age second season for the Crusaders.Jone Rova did really well at centre. The end of the game was tough.Sevu Reece , what a game/season in tough times.
1 Go to commentsFellas a balloon
3 Go to commentsBlues B team on display and made no race of it. By far the best team in SR with the Hurricanes barely getting past the winning post. Up the Blues 💙
7 Go to commentsWould be amazing to have Servette Genève reaching this level
3 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can't buy a win this season. Surely Penney's contract won't be renewed. There's still enough talent in the squad that they oughta be winning more.
1 Go to commentsABs captain for 23 seasons. Decent record. Surely nobody will surpass it. Legend. But alas a typo…
4 Go to commentsJust FYI Rugbypass, I for one am tired of your clickbait titles and thumbnails and will be clicking them no longer. Good day.
1 Go to commentsI think Farrell despite all of the stick he gets in the media is still one of if not the best fly half in the world. He is literally the full package. He can kick one of the best in the world, probably has the best defensive game of a fly half in the world and if he wants to he can run, take contact and find an offload to keep the pace of the attack. I dont know why he isnt spoken more about still being one of the best in the world with the likes of dupont. Farrell is the ultimate captain and team leader and is experienced- he has been in nearly any situation you can think of. I still believe due to these reasons that he is England’s best ever player and is still one of the best players in the world.
48 Go to commentsBlues are dominating up front and that’s been a long time coming. They have won the up front confrontation which is where canes, hilanders and act brumbies are also strong.
7 Go to commentsJust watched brumbies v safas game sadly not a show in he’ll thryr anywhere near quarters or semi contention. Admittedly some issues around new comers bot what stands out for me is coaching management, poor game planning and accuracy.
5 Go to commentsOne tough SOB!
16 Go to commentsI’ve put on 4/5 kilos since the beginning of the season too. Not good kilos. Bad kilos.
7 Go to comments