Ellis Genge says England are determined to erase the pain of their 2023 World Cup semi-final defeat to the Springboks when the teams meet at Ellis Park on 4 July.
England pushed the Boks to the brink in Paris, but a late penalty goal from Handré Pollard – won from a dominant scrum – sealed a come-from-behind 16-15 victory for the world champions.
“Open wounds,” Genge admitted to The Daily Mail. “You get hammered in the scrum … well, not hammered, but your scrum lets you down, and you want to rectify it.
“It’s a f**king World Cup. It’s a World Cup semi-final. The penalty for them to go ahead was from a scrum penalty that I was involved in, against me.
“So, obviously, it’s going to make you feel a certain way, isn’t it? Like you’ve let the f**king nation down.”
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The loosehead prop says that moment fuelled England’s renewed focus on the set-piece, with tangible improvements during the Six Nations despite a disappointing campaign overall.
“We had a +18 penalty differential at scrum time, and the next highest was six, so the scrum went well,” he said. “But no one will give us any plaudits until we go to South Africa and do it there.”
England will get that opportunity in the inaugural Nations Championship clash at Ellis Park, where Genge expects a ferocious examination against what he calls the benchmark pack in world rugby.
“It’s a real test, isn’t it?” he said. “They’ve probably got the most dominant pack in the game. Everyone’s beatable, but we’ll find out.”
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To meet that challenge, Genge has made significant personal sacrifices, including bulking up and embracing old-school scrummaging methods.
“I’ve put on 12 kilos and weigh 127 now,” he revealed. “It’s loads of gym, eating, scrums, making myself robust in the right areas.
“You’ve got to get your cadence right, your sequencing right, and get everyone invested. That even means wearing proper boots. I don’t want to wear 12-studs, but I have to.”
Photo: RvS.Media/Sylvie Failletaz/Getty Images
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