THE BIG INTERVIEW

BUILT FOR IMPACT

ELLIS GENGE

A FORCE OF NATURE ON THE PITCH AND UNAPOLOGETICALLY GROUNDED OFF IT, ELLIS GENGE IS AS FIERCE IN PRINCIPLE AS HE IS IN PLAY. HERE, THE BRITISH AND IRISH LIONS PROP SPEAKS TO MEN’S HEALTH ABOUT GROWING UP WITHOUT LOSING HIS EDGE

Words by Gordon Smart

Photography by Hamish Brown Styling by Abena Ofei

Resolutely proud of his working-class roots, Genge works to bring rugby to children from similar backgrounds

Roughly three miles west of the centre of Bristol, in a leafy West Country village, sits Bristol Bears High-Performance Centre. It’s a sprawling complex, with facilities that are reportedly the envy of all its Premiership rivals. As you approach the threshold, you’re greeted by a sign displaying four ominous words: ‘This is Bear Country’.

When we meet Ellis Genge, on a warm afternoon in late May, he has just wrapped up a rehab session to manage a minor injury – a final bit of prep before heading into camp with the British & Irish Lions. His debut tour, he’ll later admit, feels like ‘a bit of a pinch-me moment for me and my family’.

Genge is something of an outlier in the sport he’s currently dominating. A father-of-three from working class roots, he’s never been a natural fit for the middle-class, chino-wearing world of English rugby. But he is built for it. At 6ft 1in and 18st 12lb, broad shouldered and hulking, the prop plies his brutal trade in the blood and thunder of a scrum’s front row – the most ferocious battlefront in rugby union.

Despite the accolades, however, he visibly cringes at words such as ‘superstar’. ‘You don’t really see yourself as anyone’s idol or anyone’s hero,’ he says, matter-of-factly. ‘It’s my life, so nothing about it seems extraordinary.’

GIANTS AMONG MEN

The Bristol Bears’ complex is home to two full-size pitches and a covered indoor training centre. The High-Performance Centre – which accommodates the first team, academy and women’s team – also houses a state-of-the-art gymnasium, medical facilities, hydrotherapy zone, team analysis studio, players’ lounge and a kitchen run by a full-time chef and nutritionist. On the walls, motivating slogans offer encouragement around every corner. One reads: ‘Through them. Around them. Over them. It’s all about the ball.’