GOGGLE EYES OF THE TIGER
Fighting talk from Leicester star Genge as he insists the players hurt as much as the fans as their dismal run continues
DRESSED as he is, Ellis Genge cannot feel the chill wind blowing around Leicester’s training ground.
But even with hood up over his head and oversized goggles protecting his eyes, the criticism of Tigers cuts him to the bone.
Seven straight defeats have left England’s biggest rugby club in a perilous position – three points off the foot of the Premiership, bottom but one of their European pool.
Tigers fans have never been slow to offer feedback and the days leading up to tomorrow’s return match against French giants Racing 92 have been no different.
No matter that Genge produced one of the plays of the season in Paris – a 50-metre rampage, scattering defenders as he went – he still got it in the neck.
A supporter accused him of striking the wrong tone on social media given that Leicester had “lost again”. When the same voice added: “Remember, we pay”, the England prop fired back: “So do we”.
A day later the dust has settled and he is asked what he meant.
“We sacrifice things as well,” said Genge. “I don’t have any family up here. It is tough for me.
“I missed the birth of my niece, the first baby in our family in six years. She was born premature and I didn’t get to see her until she was three weeks old.
“My mum has been ill. My nan is ill. I haven’t been able to help and support them.
“So if you see me respond with a bit of a chip on my shoulder, it might look like I am being a dickhead but it is pent-up frustration. I wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning if I didn’t want to win.”
His family are all in Bristol, the city he left for his own good to join Leicester after some challenging teenage years. He misses them a lot.
“This is a job at the end of the day and I think fans forget that sometimes,” Genge added. “They say it’s the greatest job in the world – you f***ing go and run into a 150kg Samoan for a living!
“I’ve ripped my shoulder off the bone, I’ve got no cartilage left in my knee and I’m 23 years old.”
Genge is a hard man but there is a soft side which he showed when gifting the £1,000 mobility scooter he bought following knee surgery to a fan unable to see her granddaughter as she could not afford one.
Next on his list is helping rescue Leicester.
“If everyone buys into the same thing, you can achieve anything,” he said.
“You have seen that in other teams. We are just building that a bit slower than we’d like.”