Borthwick praises Genge’s ‘humility’ after social media storm over move
TIGERS CAPTAIN’S IMPENDING TRANSFER TO BRISTOL ADDS SPICE TO BOXING DAY CLASH
ELLIS Genge was praised for his humility by Leicester Tigers head coach Steve Borthwick following the upset caused by how Bristol Bears revealed his transfer.
A social media video showed Genge shaking hands and hugging his future boss, Pat Lam, whose Bristol Bears side face Tigers at Ashton Gate on Boxing Day.
It prompted an angry response on Twitter with some labelling it “classless” while others called for Genge to be stripped of the Tigers captaincy.
Genge, right, responded to many messages directly and conceded Bristol Bears “potentially got the timing of the video wrong”.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s clash, Borthwick stopped short of criticising Bristol for their part in how the news was broken and instead highlighted the conduct of his captain.
“Ellis has been really up front with me all the way through,” said the Tigers boss.
“He has been really up front with me for weeks, handled in a really mature, professional, respectful manner.
“The release, the way we released the message, I think was really respectful.
“Something was done that’s not necessarily completely in his control, it’s a message that’s been conveyed in a certain way by some other people.
“When that happens, and you allow that to happen, then the message isn’t sometimes what you want.
“And that’s what has happened. “I think Ellis saw that straight away.
“As you saw by Ellis’ humility, the way in which he interacted with supporters, and accepted and apologised to supporters. That just shows the kind of bloke he is.”
Genge’s impending switch between the two clubs adds further spice to a fixture that really needed no more fuel adding to the fire.
The last time Leicester Tigers and Bristol Bears met was in the fiery penultimate round of the 2020/21 season, when Borthwick and Pat Lam were locked in a heated exchange that resulted in Bristol securing an away win.
Since then, Tigers have won all 14 of their matches in all competitions and sit 27 points above second-from-bottom Bristol after nine rounds of the 2021/22 Gallagher Premiership season.
“The reality is, I am excited that Leicester Tigers are involved in big games now,” said Borthwick.
“Because really they weren’t. Leicester Tigers were only involved in big games because they were relegation games.
“I want to be involved in big games, where they’re competing against really, really good teams, really wellcoached teams and Bristol is packed full of superstars, incredible financial resources that they’ve had over multiple years. So we know it’s going to be one great challenge, but we’re looking forward to it.
“I’d much rather be involved in big games than not. “There’s talk around the game, ultimately that means that it’s a pretty big and important game. “I can’t enforce it enough, Leicester Tigers went so badly off track for so many years, to be back actually in those games after a pretty short period of time, then that’s a positive thing for us.”