English prop hits out at ‘private school bias’

been part of my world. Some people in the sports world find it hard to understand, so that’s why I kept it under wraps for so long. I’m not a gangster, that’s not me and not the picture I ever wanted to paint.’’

Genge never made age-group teams between the ages of 16-18.

‘‘I feel that’s because my face didn’t fit. I’m not white middle-class – I’m working class.

‘‘I don’t want to put it down to race – I don’t think it’s about that – but I’ll put it down to culture, the way people are raised and brought up.

‘‘There’s that private-school mould in rugby. It’s stopping the game from progressing.’’

A Daily Mail graphic showed 50 per cent of England’s 36-man training squad were educated at private schools – compared with seven per cent of the general population.

‘‘Is rugby really grassroots?,’’ Genge asked. ‘‘When I was younger, I never felt comfortable sitting in the clubhouse having my chips and sausage because I just felt everyone was looking at me thinking, ‘Who the f*** is this’?’’

Genge appeared in a photo shoot, sporting a gold tooth but he said if he turned up at a rugby event wearing it, ‘‘I’d be judged straight away’’.

‘‘Because of the way I look, act, where I’m from, I get looked at differently to someone white and privately educated.’’