You can chart Ellis Genge’s Test career by his tours of Australia. In 2016 he and Kyle Sinckler were Eddie Jones’s “rough diamonds”, picked to get a taste of an international tour but nowhere near Test selection. Six years on and in England’s second Test against the Wallabies in Brisbane, Genge kickstarted a victory that saved Jones’s job with a thunderous carry into Michael Hooper. Three years later, back in the same city, Genge makes his British & Irish Lions Test bow against Australia.
After naming Genge in Saturday’s side, the head coach, Andy Farrell, encouraged the 30-year-old loosehead prop to take a moment to reflect on how far he has come. It does not come easily to Genge but his growing influence on the international sides he represents is obvious. He confesses that nine years ago he and Sinckler “tried to get out of the way as much as we could” and “were out enjoying ourselves a bit too much”. In 2022, England had lost the series opener to the Wallabies and Genge was wound up by perceived provocation from opponent Taniela Tupou but inspired as Jones’s side levelled the series in Brisbane.
