Genge hoping for third time lucky leading England

LONDON :It should probably be no surprise that Ellis Genge took a long pause before answering the question of how he felt to be leading his country after being named as England captain against Fiji on Saturday as Maro Itoje starts on the bench.

Genge, now 30, has never been the typical England player, whose public speaking has been honed by a decade of private school education, and he eschewed the standard "it's an honour and a privilege" line as he pondered his answer to journalists soon after coach Steve Borthwick had announced the appointment.

"Yeah, what does it mean?" he thought out loud. "It's an honour every time you run out really, it’s not necessarily something that massively changes the way I feel about representing England.

"It doesn’t make the shirt any heavier for me. Yes it’s a crazy thing to be able to say in years to come that you have captained your country three times and that's something I’ll do with great pride. But it’s not something that’s massively absorbing my week."

Genge's less-than wholehearted embrace of the role could have something to do with the previous occasions when he did it - a record 53-10 home defeat by France and a 20-9 loss to Wales, both in 2023 - but he explained that his career has been studded with almost accidental captaincies that he never attached much importance to.

"It wasn't something I dreamt of doing," he said. "I've been given the captaincy in weird ways I guess. At Hartpury, I didn't think I was going to get it, then I captained Bristol a few times, then at Leicester to the Premiership, but it's never been something I've asked for.

"They usually just give it to you as you get a bit older, which is a bad sign."

The hard-carrying loosehead prop was one of the stars of the