England internationals George Ford and Ellis Genge have both signed new contracts with Leicester Tigers despite speculation they might move on from the poorly performing team, the club announced Wednesday.
The news comes after a tough opening to the season for Leicester. They currently sit in 11th place in the Premiership with only Saracens — who were docked 35 points at the start of the season for breaking salary cap rules — beneath them.
Prop Genge had been heavily linked with a move back to his old club Bristol while many believed that England fly-half Ford would move to a club higher up the Premiership table following the Rugby World Cup.
Ford made his debut for Leicester 10 years ago and since then has scored 810 points in 88 appearances for the club.
The 26-year-old said in a statement that the club “is not anywhere near where people want to be.”
“I believe in sticking it out through tough times and coming out at the other end,” Ford added. “If I didn’t believe we could make improvements, it might have been a different story, but I genuinely believe that.”
Genge, who has 12 England Test caps, moved to Leicester from Bristol on loan during the 2015/16 season and joined the club permanently the following season. He recently made his 50th appearance and has become a key member of Geordan Murphy’s side.
“Leicester is the club for me going forward and I am genuinely over the moon to be re-signing,” Genge said in a statement.
“The only way is up … it will be positive, I wouldn’t have signed if I didn’t believe that.”
George Worth and Sam Aspland-Robinson also signed new contracts with the club.