Ellis Genge: Ten years ago you'd never have had a Henry Pollock

Times

06-05-2025

True to form, Ellis Genge is talking about a subject most others would prefer not to.
It is British & Irish Lions squad announcement week, and no player wants to admit they are wracked with nervous hope before Thursday's grand reveal in London.
We saw it in Fin Smith, the England No10 who was fizzing with excitement after guiding Northampton Saints to an Investec Champions Cup semi-final win over Leinster in Dublin on Saturday, but stonewalled a question about the Lions afterwards. Jack Willis was the same in Bordeaux, after Toulouse had lost their semi-final. 'What are you doing on Thursday, Jack?' we asked cheekily. 'Training mate,' he said, before politely saying goodbye and heading to the bus.
Genge is another in most people's squads. Those at Bristol Bears warn us to tread carefully around the Lions questions, because he is superstitious, but Genge being Genge, he expertly elucidates exactly what all the hopefuls are thinking when asked how he will deal with this week.
'Everyone would be a bit different,' he says. 'I'd say some people probably are more confident than others. To be honest, the mantra I've taken into it is: it won't define you.
'The more you think about it, the amount of amazing players that never went on that tour for whatever reason, whether it be injury or the fact that they just weren't in favour or in form, it really doesn't define your career.'
Genge has spoken to previous Lions tourists Jonny Hill (2021) and Dan Cole (2013, 2017) about how they found out about their selection. 'On the telly,' they told him.
The England loose-head prop has never been selected by the Lions. In 2017, at the age of 22, he had his photograph taken in the shirt — like all players in the home unions' squads during the Six Nations — 'in case everyone drops dead', as he puts it. In 2021 he was more hopeful of being picked by Warren Gatland for the South Africa trip, but was not.
Genge, now 30, admits he has spent a lot of time thinking about selection this year. Too much, really. He touches the wooden table in front of him as he speaks about it. As Caelan Doris, the Ireland No8 has found out, you never know when injury might strike, even if you are in favour.
Genge says he is at peace, though. He is too busy wondering how to organise his three children, the latest of which arrived last month, to worry too much.
'There's pressure that people put on you from asking the question all the time — people in the street, family members I never hear from. I just reply, 'I don't know. No one knows'. The only bloke that knows is probably in Ireland [Andy Farrell, the Lions head coach],' Genge tells The Ruck, The Times' rugby podcast.
'The more it's on your mind, the less you're going to perform. Everyone's asking the question and that stresses you out a bit, but really, it's the least of your f***ing worries. You've got three kids, you've got a mortgage. That almost alleviates the pressure a little bit.
'I mean this, because it was getting to me. I was thinking about it relentlessly, because it's probably a bit more of a real chance for me this time.
'First, I think no one's entitled to a position wherever you go, whether that be England, Bristol or anything. And second, the world goes on, doesn't it? The sun comes up, sun goes down.'
The sun is certainly shining on Henry Pollock, the 20-year-old potential Lions bolter. Genge smiles as his name is mentioned. 'He's someone you want to hate, in the most respectful way possible,' he says of his England team-mate.
'He's that really well put-together, young, chirpy lad who went to a very nice school. He's everything I've been brought up to despise, but I actually get on really well with him.'
Genge admits that he was not prepared to believe Pollock's hype when the Northampton flanker bound into England camp from the under-20s during the Six Nations.
'I was like, 'Yeah, but can he do it next week? Can he do it in a Test?' ' Genge says. He believed when Pollock scored two tries on his debut against Wales in the 68-14 win in March, and then dominated Leinster on Saturday.
'He did it. So you eat your words,' Genge says. 'It's class when you see someone with that much energy and talent really bring it to the party. He's a peacock, you've got to let him fly.
'Ten years ago, you'd never have had a Henry Pollock. It would have been stamped out very quickly. The era of players that brought me up, like Tom Youngs, Dan Cole, Marcos Ayerza — the hard-nosed, coalface of Leicester Tigers — are very different to the Saints boys that have brought him up, like Lewis Ludlam, Courtney Lawes.
'The way they go about their work is probably a reflection of the way Henry is as a kid. I remember at Leicester, I'd come in once and my boots were coloured in black because I was wearing different coloured ones. So fair play to some of us old lot embracing him.'
Genge raised an eyebrow at Pollock's fadeaway basketball shot celebration after his try against Castres last month, but secretly loved it — the same when he checked his pulse having scorched through Leinster.
'I have no issue if someone's like that, as long as they're backing it up,' he says. 'It starts to become a problem or hindrance when it becomes more about them than it does the team, but if they're playing that well for the team, I couldn't give a f*** what you do.'
Genge has enjoyed some of Pollock's eye-catching celebrations, such as his basketball shot after scoring against Castres…
DAVID ROGERS/GETTY IMAGES
Genge's welcome to Pollock came with a clip round the ear in Cardiff, when he emerged wide-eyed into the Principality Stadium. Genge had a quiet word with him that week, as he noticed he had worn moulded boots for one scrum session.
'I was like, 'F*** me H, you're mint, but please wear studs, because I need you for the scrum,' ' Genge says. 'I was like, 'Respectfully, do whatever you want. I will follow you anywhere, but wear studs for me'. He did.
'It probably looked like I was trying to pull the reins back on him. That wasn't the case, I was amping him up — 'Let's get ready for the scrum, and then you go do whatever you want, my boy. You carry on'. He went and scored two tries.'
This Saturday, Genge is back in Cardiff with Bristol, who face Bath in their Big Day Out in front of 50,000 at the Principality Stadium. He loves this rivalry and is ready for a 'tear up' in the Gallagher Premiership, as the Bears need to beat Bath, Sale Sharks and Harlequins to make the play-offs.
He wants to show his improved scrummaging against England team-mate Will Stuart — the tight-head also tipped for Lions selection. Genge is proud that the 28-year-old has blossomed this year.
'He's been in the form of his life,' he says of Stuart. 'I feel Stewie is probably a halfway-house between the old school and the new school.
'He's really trying to bring his personality out, but had a bit of scar tissue left over from his early Wasps days, when you had James Haskell and some of the old boys there poo-poohing him a bit. He didn't want to come out of his shell, and I feel that probably held him back a bit.
'Now in camp, you're seeing his personality, he's cracking jokes. He's always been funny, but he's come into his own. It's really good to see.'
Working with Tom Harrison, England's scrum coach, the front-row forwards had some honest conversations to 'put our name back in people's mouths,' as Genge puts it.
He looked inwards, too. Genge has always been brutally honest about his story — the tearaway boy from Bristol's Knowle West council estate made good — but wants to park that narrative now, believing it was affecting the perception of him as a player.
'When I've opened up about past experiences — where I'm from and my background, that's probably carried over into how some officials have viewed me,' Genge says. 'They probably view me as a bit reckless, with a bit of animosity. Every time I speak to someone, they think I'm having a pop at them. It's just my demeanour. I've tried to make that clear.
'I was talking to the referee Christophe [Ridley] in a game and he said, 'Don't shout at me'. I said, 'Christophe, I'm not. It's just how I talk. I'm blowing, this is what I sound like'.
'This is why when people ask me now in an interview, 'Talk to me about when you got arrested', I'm like, 'F*** me. I've been there. You know the crack. Why bring it back up?' I feel for a period of time, it put me in a light that probably didn't benefit my rugby.
'I came to the conclusion, you literally can't fight people now, so there's no point trying to sort of provoke the animosity. It's probably given me a bit more time to think, a bit more of a clearer head. I'm not running around tense and ready to explode all the time.'