Alan Martinovic backs Ellis Genge to succeed in Australian tour

Renowned coach and expert talent spotter Alan Martinovic believes rookie England prop Ellis Genge to emulate "rare beasts" David Flatman and Matt Stevens and flourish in the Test arena years ahead of expectation.

Martinovic, who is presently the Head of Recruitment and Talent Identification at Bristol Rugby has backed and initiated careers of a host of Test stars, including England stars such as prop Matt Stevens, member of the 2003 World Cup-winning squad Mike Tindall and lock Steve Borthwick.

Martinovic believes Genge can be the next name on that illustrious list.

The 21-year-old impressed England head coach Eddie Jones and was picked as one of six props for the upcoming three-Test Australia tour.

Martinovic is confident Genge, who exceeded expectations in his recent loan spell at Leicester Tigers will meet the challenge head-on against the Wallabies.

"Not too many front-row players force their way through to international rugby in their early 20s, especially in England.

"People that spring to mind are David Flatman, he was 20 and playing for England, and Matt Stevens, he was a guy I brought over from South Africa, he was a similar sort of age.

"They were very big, physical specimens for their age and coped alright.

"They are rare beasts those guys, to come and play Premiership rugby, let alone international rugby at that sort of age.

"But Ellis never takes a backward step. He's certainly confident in his own ability and I've never known him fazed by any challenge really.

"He won't be thinking this is all going to be above me or I'm going to be out of my depth here, he'll meet that challenge head-on and that's why he plays the game."

Genge, who made a successful transformation from back-row to front-row in less than three years, has exceptionally coped well with the challenge against players who are physically superior to him.

"His transition from back-row to front-row is relatively recent

"It wasn't until he was 18 really that he started to make that change.

"So he's gone from a back-row player at 18 to part of an international squad as a front-row in less than three years.

"You watch a lot of age-grade games, you always have big kids who can impose themselves on smaller kids.

"But as he's progressed, played against people who are as big and as physical, he has always coped.

"He's not a flat-track bully where he's only interested in running over people who are smaller than him, he'll take anybody on.

"That's a huge point of difference for him."