Ellis Genge labels England critics ‘sausages’ in extraordinary interview after Calcutta Cup win over Scotland

Calcutta Cup match-winner hits back at those who called for Eddie Jones to be sacked in the wake of the France defeat

Ellis Genge labelled England’s critics “sausages” in response to claims Eddie Jones should be replaced as head coach, with the Calcutta Cup match-winner issuing a stern response towards their Six Nations doubters.

Genge came off the replacements’ bench to score the decisive 69th-minute try against Scotland that saw England regain the Calcutta Cup for the first time since 2017 and get back to winning ways after back-to-back defeats.

But the loosehead prop was keen to defend the team as well as his head coach after they received intense criticism following last weekend’s defeat by France, claiming that the same people who were so negative after the opening round would now be revelling in the Murrayfield victory.

“We had a bump in the road last week, that's all,” Genge told the BBC. “Everyone was writing us off saying that we weren't good enough and saying that our coach should be sacked and the boys were a different team from the World Cup. It's classic: a lot of sausages saying things that just come into their head and what are they on about? We go out and win in Scotland away in the rain and now everyone's singing our praises.”

Genge’s comments appeared to be partially directed at former England scrum-half Kyran Bracken, who argued in the wake of the Stade de France loss that Jones should be replaced by an English coach in order to freshen the team up after their World Cup agony last November.

“We're on to the next job now and I'm sure we'll have more critics,” Genge added. “It happens every week. You lose a game and suddenly you can't play rugby any more. I hope we've shut all the critics up and I hope they watched that game as well.”

The Leicester Tigers forward, who next week turns 25 years old, admitted that the match-winning try left little memory as he found himself caught up in the battle that unfolded in Edinburgh, with a physical contest drowned out by torrential rain and strong winds brought by Storm Ciara.

“I can't remember,” Genge said. “It was all a bit of a blur and happened quite quick. Obviously you don't really plan for anything like that to happen and I was the lucky one to pick it up.”

However, the celebrations were fairly muted as a number of Genge’s teammates were dragged out of the changing room for post-game drugs tests, while England were also required to make a swift effort in order to catch their flight back to London in a bid to beat the worst weather that was heading for the Scottish capital.

Genge added: “It takes the sting out of the celebrations when the boys aren’t there, but we’re buzzing.”