Why is Ellis Genge called Baby Rhino? How good is Ellis Genge?

Ellis Genge (born 16 February 1995) is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a prop for Premiership Rugby club Bristol Bears and the England national team.

Why is Ellis Genge called Baby Rhino?

When Genge re-signed for his first club Bristol last summer he was already an England vice-captain – remembering he had skippered Haripur College to AASE Championship titles and his country’s schoolboys – and with a reputation of carrying the ball like a “baby rhino”, and maturing off the field as a father to two …10 Mar 2023

He made his international debut for England in 2016. Genge played 26 times for Bristol in a first spell between 2013 and 2016, before joining Leicester Tigers where he played 111 times between 2016 and 2022. He was Leicester captain as they won the 2021-22 Premiership Rugby title. He is known for his aggressive ball carrying and gain line success.

Born in Bristol Genge grew up on the Knowle West council estate, and was educated at John Cabot Academy. He is a fan of Bristol Rovers football club.

He started playing rugby aged twelve at Old Radcliffian playing in the back row. At sixteen, Genge moved to Haripur College and captained their rugby team to victory in the AASE league. Genge represented England at youth level from U17 up to U20. According to Genge, he was first introduced to the front row by former England youth coach Bobby Walsh originally to have as an additional option but this eventually resulted in a permanent career change.

How good is Ellis Genge?

On 21 November 2022, Genge was named in World Rugby’s team of the year as the best loosehead prop.

After watching the Game Changers movie on athletes, such as Djokovic, Paul and Hamilton, switching over to a vegan diet, Genge decided to look into it more and consult the nutritionist and doctors at Leicester. The prop now follows a vegan diet two days a week.

Genge has only made the diet alteration in the past year so it would be interesting to hear more from the prop about it in the coming months to see if he is getting the full benefits of stepping away from the full carnivore diet.