Ellis Genge, who discovered rugby as a way to channel his anger and aggression, is now a Test match British and Irish Lion with the job of destroying the Wallaby pack on Saturday.The explosive England loosehead prop has been named in Andy Farrell’s starting line-up for the opening Test against the Wallabies in Brisbane. Genge hopes to get the Lions off to a winning start against the WallabiesGettyAnd he is now an even bigger threat to the opposition compared to the young prop who burst onto the scene with a very different back story to most players. Genge grew up fighting on the streets of the Knowle West council estate in Bristol and his troubled youth featured several brushes with the law, including three arrests, which is why he was steered towards a sport that had plenty of physical contact.When Genge first started to make an impact on the rugby pitch he was 115kg and made a name for himself as a ball carrying forward.This is still one of his major strengths, however, putting on extra weight to boost his scrum power has changed the way he plays. He explained: “I wouldn’t say [it’s helped] the ball carrying because dynamism comes with being lighter to be honest. “When you saw me burst onto the scene at 21, I was 114, 115 kilos and I could actually move quite fast. [I weighed in at] 126 kilos two days ago and I’ve been a bit heavier, unfortunately. So it’s downhill from here. “I feel bigger, look at me now. I thought Finlay [Bealham] put a filter on me the other day, I looked enormous [in a picture] and I was like, ‘no please tell me you’ve put a filter on that’ and he didn’t. He might have, I looked so bad.“But it is a conscious choice to be a bit bigger, in a few years time I’ll lose a few kilos don’t you worry.“I was getting pretty knackered doing the carrying and the scrummaging, the kick chase and all that. “And trying to push [in the scrum] at 116kg, it doesn’t sound like much but I think the energy reserve you get from piling a load more grub into you does go a long way believe it or not. I’ve gymmed a bit harder and taken my weights quite seriously.The 30-year-old has packed on the kilos over the years to aid England, and now the Lions, in the scrumGettyHe’s piled on the muscle of late – although he was still pretty big when he first came onto the sceneGetty“In the last 18 months I have got a bit stronger and I definitely haven’t got faster. I’ve got slower but it’s obviously working in the set piece.”While Genge has matured into an outstanding front row forward, the anger is still there, although he is much better at using it in a positive way. He added: “Sometimes people do lose the plot and whack someone. But I don’t think you get that amped up anymore that you implode, I think that’s probably over emotional.“I think the game has a good way of bringing it out of you, especially when you have good players around you that understand you.“I think some of the boys were quite shocked at how I was around the scrums, turning around and screaming and slapping them, but I feel that when you’ve got great players around you, it brings the best out of you. “And performance wise, for us it sort of brings you back down because you want to impress. If you’re being honest the ego gets the better of you, you want to be the best player on the pitch and you’re competing. Genge is poised to make his Lions debut on SaturdayGetty“On the flip side of that, having a great team around you also means that you’re self aware of your surroundings.”Genge has taken notice of the words of head coach Andy Farrell, who has been preparing the players for the pressure of the first test which will set the tone for the remaining three matches and show if the Lions are going to deliver the 3-0 triumph they want. The 30-year-old revealed: “Faz said in a meeting the other day that basically you should have a bit of swagger about yourself, you should be happy, you should be proud to wear that badge and take a second to think ‘ah you have done it’. “Which stuck with me a bit because I have rarely taken the opportunity to reflect on my career thus far, I feel if you start doing that and looking back you struggle to get out of second gear sometimes. “So I’ve not done it for a long time but obviously all the messages flood in, the questions and the phone calls and you think it is actually quite a big deal.“I think those situations bring the best out of me, I’ve never had massive expectations of myself as a young bloke but this build up is good for me. It draws a good energy from me.“I don’t really like the praise too much. I don’t like the conversations either and texts but I think you would be naive to say that you’re not over the moon and unbelievably proud of what you’ve achieved thus far. “But someone said to me at the beginning of the year, ‘It’s the difference between a Test Lion and a winning Test Lion’, so hopefully we can make that happen.”And what about a 3-0 series triumph? Genge responded: “It’s one of those things. I think especially as an Englishman, you’ve always been quite cynical about speaking about that sort of stuff to the press. Whereas, I don’t think any of us got on the plane and thought ‘we don’t want to win 3-0’. “Why would you lie about it, why would you lie about the expectation to win the series 3-0? Of course it is. Obviously Australia’s expectation is to do the opposite. “I think if we’re being grown-ups about it, the expectation and setting standards as a team, [3-0] comes part and parcel with it.”The Lions on talkSPORTtalkSPORT has all of the British and Irish Lions matches live across the network. Eddie Jones is among the star-studded line-up leading the coverage Down UnderJune 20, Dublin: Lions 24–28 ArgentinaJune 28, Perth: Lions 54-7 Western ForceJuly 2, Brisbane: Lions 52-12 Queensland RedsJuly 5, Sydney: Lions 21-10 New South Wales WaratahsJuly 9, Canberra: Lions 36-24 ACT BrumbiesJuly 12, Adelaide: Lions 48-0 ANZAC XVJuly 12, Brisbane: Lions v WallabiesJuly 22, Melbourne: Lions v First Nations and Pasifika XVJuly 26, Melbourne: Lions v WallabiesAugust 2, Sydney: Lions v Wallabies