First, Steve Borthwick and Ellis Genge combined to lead Leicester to Premiership glory. Now England have come calling.
Nine months on from Tigers’ Twickenham triumph, Genge is in line to skipper his country on the same pitch against France.
Confirmation is expected today that Owen Farrell will make way for Marcus Smith to start at fly-half and Genge to take over the armband.
The Bristol prop, vice-captain under both Borthwick and predecessor Eddie Jones, has long been a leader in this team. England’s marked set-piece improvement can be traced back to the powerful message he delivered after what turned out to be Jones’ final game in charge.
“We’ve got to be twice as good. We’ve got to raise the bar and take it to a new level,” he demanded in response to the demolition of England’s scrum by South Africa.
“You get the 50-50s because you’re so dominant. It’s human nature. It’s about keeping calm, collected, being real about it and everyone holding their hands up.”
England’s pack finished 2022 ranked 11th in the world for scrum success and ninth for lineout steals. Today they boast the second best scrum in the Six Nations and are the only team to steal a lineout.
“Our rankings at the end of the autumn series were abysmal,” he acknowledged yesterday. “We’ve done a lot of work on it and we’ve crept up the ladder significantly.”
Genge set the tone for that before Borthwick was even through the front door. That message is now widely understood.
“If people are that good and you’ve got a perception you’re squeaky clean, you win everything,” he said.
“Look at Jon Jones, top of UFC for so long. He used to put his arm out and poke people in the eye, but got away with it because of who he was.
“New Zealand for a long time in rugby… they said Richie McCaw was brilliant at cheating, but was it just a case of New Zealand being that dominant that no-one flagged them?”
Farrell being dropped for the first time since the opening game of the 2015 World Cup would be a brave and momentous decision by Borthwick only four games into his tenure. Awarding the captaincy to Genge, less so, given his ever growing influence.
The 28-year old is quick to pay tribute to the role played by forwards coach Richard Cockerill, ironically bound for French club rugby when the tournament ends. The appreciation is very much mutual.
Cockerill said: ”As Ellis has matured he makes better and better choices about what he does. He knows how he needs to behave and when he needs to do it. He is a good man, a guy you can trust.”
France, ranked No2 in the world, are odds on to win in England’s backyard for the first time since 2007. But Genge recalls how Man United were fancied to beat Liverpool.
“That shows how you can get punished if you're one or two per cent off against top level teams,” he warned. “It happens.”
