As a young lock forward learning his trade in the hugely competitive Premiership, Ollie Chessum could have no better tutor than Tigers head coach and former England captain, Steve Borthwick.
Chessum is enjoying life at Welford Road second time around, having been released from the club's academy in 2019 before being re-signed last summer after a stint at Nottingham.
Championship rugby enabled the former Kesteven RFC junior to find his feet among gnarled old pros and he is now being rewarded with consistent game time by ex-lock Borthwick.
Chessum, 20, said: “My spell at Nottingham was massive. I had last season there and played up until February when it was cut off because of Covid, but I hadn't played at any level of senior rugby prior to that so it was good exposure to test myself against more physical guys.
“I'd only played age grade and junior stuff before that, but it gave me a platform to be resigned by Tigers and since coming back, Steve Borthwick's been a massive influence to a lot of us. It's been great to have him here to pass down his knowledge and steer us in the right way.
“With the number of games he played at various levels throughout his career, there really is no one better to learn from. The lineout was a massive area of his game so it's great to tap into his knowledge there and he definitely pushes us to study all areas around the pitch as well. As a student of the game, it makes you learn a heck of a lot faster and brings your game on a lot.”
As a decent centrehalf who represented Lincolnshire at football, Chessum's early leaning was towards the round ball before a growth spurt encouraged him to take up rugby at secondary school. At 6ft 7ins (2.01m) and 18st lbs (118kgs), he now fits the bill as a modern-day lock.
Chessum explains: “I was football mad but was always much taller than most people in my year so the PE teachers at school gave me a nudge and said I should try rugby. Whilst I knew my way around a football pitch, as I got taller I became more like a giraffe on ice skates so it was a natural switch to rugby and I enjoyed the physicality of it and just got stuck in.”
With Leicester colleague George Martin recently called into the England squad and other Leicester tyros like Freddie Steward, Cameron Henderson and Dan Kelly breaking through, Ches- sum is looking to build on what has been an encouraging cam- paign so far.
He adds:“George is a really good friend of mine and I can speak for everyone at Leicester when I say how proud we are of what he's been doing. England are looking at younger talents and that gives great confidence to other lads in the Tigers' squad.
Steve's showing faith in us and for us to be able to play alongside some of the big names here is massive.”
