England star dubbed the ‘world’s best right now’ as great left baffled on how to stop him
Bristol Bears prop Ellis Genge and an inset of England legend Ben Youngs.
England and Bristol Bears prop Ellis Genge is the form player in the world right now, according to former scrum-half Ben Youngs.
Genge has enjoyed a rich vein of form with the Bears, helping the side win six games on the bounce across the Investec Champions Cup and PREM Rugby.
This comes after shining for England and the British and Irish Lions last year. In November, he was successfully deployed off the bench by Steve Borthwick in the ‘POM Squad’ but has been particularly destructive with Bristol upon his return, scoring a memorable 40-odd metre try against Harlequins in the Big Game fixture at Allianz Stadium.
Ellis Genge is the form player in the world
His performance has not gone unnoticed by his former club and international teammates, who sang his praises on the For the Love of Rugby Investec Champions Cup preview podcast.
“Bristol have won six on the bounce, and Ellis Genge is in the form of his life,” former England tighthead prop Dan Cole said.
Before Youngs chipped in with the bold claim: “I’ll go as far as to say Ellis Genge right now is the form player in the world.”
Taken aback by the comment, Cole attempted to argue the point but conceded rather quickly.
“The world’s a big shout,” he said.
“The southern hemisphere teams have got some time off, so well played, yeah. He has been outstanding.
“There are some people up there challenging him, but I’m just thinking in terms of looseheads… The fact that he scored from 40 metres out against Quins at Allianz Stadium, okay, no one is better than him.”
Nick David has been criticised for his inability to stop the rampaging England front-rower, but Young empathises with the Quins full-back after falling victim to Genge in a similar manner during the prop’s time at Leicester Tigers.
“That actually happened to me. We were training on pitch one, and it was like the end of a pre-season training session and we’re all in our suits and Genge got the ball from like 40 and he was steaming down the wing and I went to tackle him and the heels of my feet touched the back of my head and I woke up three days later with a Bristol accent,” he said.
“People say ‘Oh, the full-back’s got to do better’, but you cannot stop him, he’s like 120 kilos and really, really quick. I don’t know what you’re meant to do there. I honestly do not know what you’re meant to do. I tried it. It was horrendous and poor old Nick David, bless him, but he gave it a go.
“People say, ‘Oh, he got his head on the wrong side,’ you try and stop that. You try and stop the most in-form player in world rugby right now, 120 kilos, because he has two curries a week and he can shift.”
England teammates collide
Genge continued his fine run of form in the PREM Rugby clash against Sale Sharks at the weekend, where he got to grips with England and Lions teammate Tom Curry.
“Great pun there, Ben, because you said ‘two curries a week’ because we actually got to see Genge and Tom Curry get stuck into each other at the weekend… and it was very entertaining,” Cole remarked.
“You could see both of them going after each other and at the same time having a bit of a giggle with each other post coming together, it was quite nice to see.”
Youngs agreed, saying: “I quite enjoyed that. Genge is obviously a wind-up merchant, giving it plenty of physical, abrasive carrying into everything.
“Then you got Curry, who we know is a world-class player, he is, but equally the heartbeat of Sale Sharks and everything that they stand for and what they’re about, and he’s into it, and he knows what Genge is like.
“It was done in a way that they sort of laughed about it as soon as the penalty was given or they marched off. It was done in the right way. But I did enjoy those two trying to go at each other.
“Two terrific, terrific players. It just shows that when you put on the club colours cutters, you’re out there to compete and win.”
Bristol’s next fortnight
Bristol have won their opening two Champions Cup fixtures, beating Scarlets and Section Paloise, but have two challenging matches up next.
They travel to Pretoria, where Pat Lam’s men will tackle a struggling Vodacom Bulls outfit at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday before returning to the West Country, where they will host title holders Union Bordeaux Begles at Ashton Gate.
The Bears have continued to entertain with their attacking brilliance this season, and their excellence in that area of the game leaves Youngs confident that Lam’s side is capable of collecting enough points to progress to the knockout stages of the tournament, even if they fail to pick up a victory.
“The way that Bristol plays, they naturally pick up bonus points,” the England legend said.
“The way they move the ball so well, they play with great attacking intent, and I can see them going to the Bulls and getting four tries.
“Do I see them winning? I think that kind of depends on where the Bulls are at. They’ve obviously lost two games so far in the Investec Champions Cup. What type of team are they going to field? They’ve obviously just had their matches within the URC against the Stormers at the weekend. Are they going to go fully loaded at home against Bristol? I don’t know. But what I will say is, you anticipate that Bristol will pick up four or more tries per game.
“Therefore, they’ll get a point out of the game depending on which team they select. When they come back to Ashton Gate, then I do think that they’ll go fully loaded Bristol again. They’ll want momentum, and I see Bristol picking up enough points in the next two weeks [to secure a place in the knockouts].
“They may only win one of them. They might even lose both of them. But what I do see is the ability to score tries that they’ll pick up enough points.”
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