Ellis Genge keen to leave Leicester at the top after ‘biggest game’ of his career | leicester

WWhatever happens on Saturday, Ellis Genge will leave Leicester with his promise. During the club’s precipitous decline, in which the once dynastic squad finished 11th in the Premiership in 2018 and 2019, the struggling English mainstay vowed to remain in the East Midlands until a corner was turned.

“I made a pact a long time ago that I would never leave Tigers if they were in a dark hole,” says Genge as he prepares for the Premiership final against Saracens. “I had all sorts of offers to go somewhere else when we were at the bottom of the list. I said I wanted to hold out to see brighter days. So hopefully I can go with my head held high.”

In December Genge announced his return to Bristol, his hometown club where he began his professional career in 2013 in the British and Irish Cups, scoring a try in a 62-7 win over Scottish club Gala as an 18-year-old. He joined Leicester in 2016 for both off-field problems and rugby reasons, having been arrested following a game against Ulster in Belfast the year before. “I’m probably better off away from [Bristol]’ he told the Express in 2017.

Genge, a working class child from a council estate, always wanted to stand out in a sport that still hasn’t caught up with the rest of the UK, and he did so at an organization still confident of its big place in the game. In 2013, Leicester secured their fourth Premiership title in seven years, having reached every final between 2005 and 2013. But as Saracens became the new powerhouse on the scene, the Tigers struggled to keep up.

“In the past, especially the last time I was here, it was very much, ‘Right, we have a good pack, let’s try to get the shit out of them and see what happens next,'” says the aviator . half Freddie Burns, who returned to Leicester this season after spending three years at the club between 2014 and 2017.

This one-dimensional approach led to the expected results. In 2016 and 2017, Leicester finished fourth in the league. In 2018, they missed the playoffs for the first time in 13 seasons. The 2018/19 season started with a 40-6 defeat in Exeter and went on to have eight consecutive defeats. “It’s terrible, it’s not nice to be there,” says Genge of this hot run. “It was probably easier to lose than win. I thought we were dismounting. I definitely had [that] Feeling.”

Were it not for the salary cap scandal at Saracens, Leicester would have been demoted a year later. They won just six of their 22 games and finished the 2019/20 season with 29 points, their worst record ever.

Steve Borthwick came along and immediately set a higher standard for his players. Putting his faith in youth, he rose from the successful U18 side that won back-to-back Academy League titles and nurtured the talents of Freddie Steward, Jack van Poortvliet and George Martin.

Borthwick has also encouraged its players to kick more and they have averaged more kicks per game (34.8) and more yards from kicks per game (1,091) than any other team in the league. But perhaps his masterpiece was handing the captaincy to a player many had written off as unruly: Genge.

Lewis Moody, who represented Leicester 223 times during their golden age, has compared Genge’s leadership to that of the club’s most famous captain, Martin Johnson. And although the 27-year-old’s reign began with a record 54-7 defeat at Wasps in September 2020, he has proven to be a catalyst for change, inspiring through example, scrums, riots and riots from the front. Now that he’s about to say goodbye, how does he want to be remembered? “As someone who was always himself,” says Genge after a long break. “And to my teammates, as someone who would do anything for them.”

He has yet to pack his bags for moving home, a change Genge says has always been motivated by a desire to be closer to his family. “Because I know things are happening down there and being up here, I know it’s not a million miles away, I just want to be reachable. I’m happy with that.”

Genge anticipates a grueling final in what he describes as “the greatest game of my career”. Both teams, he explains, play a similar style of rugby, with one focusing on squeezing territorial gains out of the boot and outperforming their opponents on the field. “It’s probably going to be a kick-chaser battle,” he says. “They kind of made that up, didn’t they? All those years ago when they started to dominate. This is high pressure rugby. For us it’s all about doing the best we can and it will be the same for them.”

Redemptive threads are within reach for both clubs. For the Saracens, a win would underscore their credentials after a disgraceful year in the Championship. For Leicester, an 11th Premiership crown would bring two sad seasons to the brink of their storied history.

As much as he would love to win that title, Genge has nothing to prove this weekend. He has already kept his promise.