'A Tuilagi name on the teamsheet strikes fear into a lot of people'

Ollie Chessum arrived straight off the training ground the other day in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, another 9/10 session in the bank and a spring in his lengthy step with England sifting through preparations for this Saturday’s Rugby World Cup game versus Samoa in Lille.

It was pads days, an opportunity for Steve Borthwick’s squad to suit up and to let rip, smashing into each other to replicate some bone-on-bone match intensity. “Yeah, it was right up there,” quipped the gangly youngster with a satisfied smile. “The team were really confident with how we trained, the boys enjoyed that session.

“The coaches here are really good with managing how close we can get to a game situation. There are certain things we can do. We do a fair bit of training in suits on a day like today, so we can go fairly full-on with the contact but obviously trying to protect the boys.

“We have got a Test match at the end of the week so you have got to be conscious of that but the coaches are really good at managing what we do in the session, making sure that during the week we get the right amount of everything but not too much. The drill at the start of the session, little bits like that, you can get close to match intensity without having to burn yourself out or risk injuring lads.”

Having turned 23 last month just days before the tournament opener versus Argentina, Chessum is absorbing every moment of his first finals like a massive wet sponge. His enthusiasm is only added to by his personal journey to get to France. It was last March when he left crumpled on the England training ground in Pennyhill, his ankle dislocated and his World Cup hopes seemingly dashed.

Borthwick, though, gave the second row every leeway to make it back. The coach had taken a shine to him at Leicester, allowing the apprentice to thrive in the Tigers' run to the 2022 Gallagher Premiership title, and that was credit in the bank with regards to Chessum working his way through rehab as an additional player outside of the training squads named weekly over the summer.

This faith was endorsed by August 7 selection in the official World Cup squad and 12 days later he was sent on fire-fighting as a sub in Dublin with England a red-carded player down and in need of some face-saving grunt. Seven weeks later, Chessum is poised to start his third World Cup game. Living the dream? You bet!

“Talk to the guys who have been here, we have got guys who have been to four World Cups and they have sort of said there is nothing like a World Cup and you sort of don’t believe it until you are here. The atmosphere in the towns and the cities we have played at, how welcome it has been in Le Touquet for us and all the little things that have gone on around the town show you how invested people are outside of the camp.

“You don’t really see that when you are in the bubble, you don’t see what is going on back home, how much people are enjoying it, how much people are enjoyed while you are here. It’s been really cool.”

Can you pick a standout moment? "Difficult question, there have been many. Just playing, just being out there playing, the atmospheres we have played in over the last three weeks, that first game against Argentina the stadium was bouncing. It was one of the best sorts of environments I have played in and hopefully there is going to be a few more yet.”

Saturday is officially Tuilagi Day. With England already qualified as pool winners for an October 15 quarter-final in Marseille, most likely versus Fiji, and with Samoa squeezed out of the runners-up race by Japan and Argentina who face off in Nantes on Sunday, the narrative that has unfolded about the pool finale in Lille is England’s Samoan son getting to play against the land of his birth for the very first time.

It’s a poignant occasion given how much Manu’s older brothers also contributed to the Leicester legacy over the years and with Chessum now on the Welford Road books, he well understands the chatter heading into the fixture. “The Tuilagi name at Leicester is a huge one,” he agreed.

“Unfortunately I didn’t get to play with Manu in a Leicester shirt, he had moved onto Sale, but I have been fortunate to play with him here (with England) and I don’t think you need me to tell you how crucial and pivotal he is to what we do here.

“You saw a little glimpse of it in the Argentina game when he made that tackle and the whole stadium sort of felt that one and that’s what he can bring to a game, those moments of just sheer physicality that not many players in the world can match that.

“It is a real fear factor for the teams when you play against them. When you see a Tuilagi name on the teamsheet it strikes a fear bit of fear into a lot of people, so he’s massive for us what he can do on the ball and off it.”

It’s not just Manu, though, it’s the whole family. “Just scary, scary players. We got shown a clip from Henry in the week that Manu sorted out and you just see the sheer size of that man. It was a little video that Manu had sorted out for the boys with him, there’s a little ongoing joke in the camp.

“You talk to a lot of players now and they say when they were playing that he was the one player they didn’t want to ever play against. They were just massive, what that family did for Leicester as a club. I still have quite a lot of contact with Freddie.

“Freddie was the director of rugby at my old sort of village club [Kesteven] not so long ago and he is a top, top bloke, always got time for you, but he can do some serious damage if you got on the wrong side of him. They are great people and Manu, there is not a bad word you can say about him. It runs in the family.

“There are world-class players in every team at this tournament. That’s the nature of a World Cup, it’s the best players in the world playing and each team has a couple of names on the teamsheet that you try and earmark early on because you know they pose a threat. I suppose the fortunate thing for me is that Manu is going to be wearing a white shirt this weekend, so I don’t necessarily have to worry about getting smacked by him.

"There are plenty of players in the world that pose that physical threat no matter how much you train it, you just can’t train having that natural power that Manu has. But like I say, there are plenty of players out there that are similar. The nature of modern rugby is blokes are getting bigger and bigger and stronger.”

The next generation isn’t too shabby either, Chessum’s young brother Lewis recently grappling with Henry’s son Posolo at the U20s World Cup in Cape Town. “They went against each other and he said he was an absolute unit – and he’s actually a year below, he has got another year in the 20s. 140-odd kegs in the second row. Some going that!”

Indeed. Some going too is the progress of England in France. Having won just one of six matches coming into the tournament, a struggle was predicted. Instead, they reeled three straight wins off the bat to make the knockouts with a pool match to spare, but just don’t ask Chessum about what is on the horizon next weekend in Marseille.

“Until Samoa is done we can’t look past that. That result still has bearings on the group. We want to go four from four in the group stages and that is our aim for this week. Samoa are very powerful outfit but the lads here have played Samoa many times, they know what to expect. Samoa, no surprise. We have got a job in matching that physicality.”

Are they an ideal tune-up for the threats Fiji will likely pose in the quarter-finals? “No, because Fiji aren’t Samoa. Samoa have got completely different players, are a completely different outfit.

"There are plenty of players in the world that are strong and powerful but it’s the parts of the game they bring that set them apart from different teams. We have just got to look at them as the team they have got and the individuals they have pose different threats to players in different teams.”

England’s lineout has been developing nicely at France 2023. Head along to the vision access section at training and you’ll see Borthwick in action, dangling at the top of a ladder gathering the quick-fire throws of hookers Jamie George, Theo Dan and Jack Walker. It’s quite the sight. “I’ve never seen anyone as good on the ladder,” enthused Chessum.

“Joey Lewis, one of our analysts, he quite often goes up there in the mornings and looks a bag of nerves at the top. Anything above chest height he doesn’t want anything to do with it because he is worried about falling backwards whereas Steve is there one-handed, leaning over the back.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. A few of them have tried to stretch him but I have never seen it. I have seen the ladder buckle once. Other than that he has not actually fallen off it trying to catch a ball, so fair play.”

As a mentor, Cheesum couldn’t have better than Borthwick, a former England second row. “I’m very fortunate to play in an almost identical position to Steve and he has helped me massively. He is the head coach but he is a very hands-on forwards coach.

“He has a lot to do with the lineout obviously, he is always around when the scrum sessions are taking place, and any of the forwards unit skills that we do he is massively involved in. He takes massive pride in that and it is hugely helpful that we play in a very similar position on the field and he played at this level. He was captain of England and has won Premierships and what have you, he is a great person to learn from.

“As a player what gives you confidence is knowing what you are being asked to do is the right thing and Steve and the coaches back it up with evidence.

"They show us the pictures, they show us what we are looking at, what we are hopefully going to see at the weekend, and that gives you real confidence knowing that the work has been done off the field. The research has been done, the homework has been done and this is the plan and then everyone gets around that plan and really buys in. They are not hard blokes to go and do it for either.

“We’re really pleased with where we are at in the lineout. There is always room for improvement and we want to keep taking steps forward but Maro (Itoje) has done an exceptional job with calling it, Dave (Ribbans) as well against Chile. The group as a whole, it’s a real unit skill, they call the lineout but it is all about getting the drill right and there are a lot of sequences and moves that we train out on the paddock in the week.

“You have to give credit to the front row guys, they have got the scrum as their element, we have got the lineout, so to have the full buy-in from them at lineout time so they can give us every opportunity to win the ball is massive. We’ve been pretty pleased with that so far; we’re just hoping it continues for the rest of the tournament.”

How wide is the spread of England's lineout calls? “I couldn’t tell you. It’s a list that just goes on and on, especially with Steve. You sort of build a bank over however long.

"We had Steve in since the Six Nations so we have been building options all the way through that and you build up a bank and then you go away and do your research and you select and you come up with a plan that best suits the opposition you are playing.”