Oliver Andrew Chessum (born 6 September 2000) is an English

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player for

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

, his preferred position is

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

, but he also plays back row. He made his England debut in the 2022 Six Nations against Italy, and has played twice for . Chessum won the

title in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

starting in the final against Saracens.

Early life

Chessum began playing rugby at

Carre's Grammar School Carre's Grammar School is a selective secondary school for boys in Sleaford, a market town in Lincolnshire, England. Founded on 1 September 1604 by an indenture of Robert Carre, the school was funded by rents from farmland and run by a group ...

Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington, Lincolnshire, ...

at the age of 13, before playing club rugby for Sleaford, Newark and Kesteven.

Career

Chessum was attached to Leicester's academy as a teenager but was not taken into the main senior academy at 16, instead he played for his club and the Notts, Lincs and Derby Rugby Union youth teams, during which time he represented England Counties at U18 level. He joined

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

straight from school and impressed at the club making 11 appearances. He then went on to join

in the summer of 2020. He made his Leicester debut at Kingsholm against

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

on 30 August 2020. On 20 November 2021 he was named as the

Leicester Mercury The ''Leicester Mercury'' is a British regional newspaper for the city of Leicester and the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The paper began in the 19th century as the ''Leicester Daily Mercury'' and later changed to its pre ...

's ''man of the match'' for his performance in a 55-7

Premiership Rugby Cup The Premiership Rugby Cup is an English rugby union knockout cup competition for teams in Premiership Rugby. It was created in 2018 to replace the Anglo-Welsh Cup after the withdrawal of the Welsh regions. History The Premiership Rugby Cup was ...

win against

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. T ...

. Chessum started the

2021-22 Premiership Rugby Increment or incremental may refer to: *Incrementalism, a theory (also used in politics as a synonym for gradualism) *Increment and decrement operators, the operators ++ and -- in computer programming *Incremental computing *Incremental backup, wh ...

final, and claimed a crucial loose ball to set up possession before

Freddie Burns Freddie Spencer Burns (born 13 May 1990) is an English professional rugby union player who plays fly-half for Super Rugby side . Burns played over 100 times for Gloucester between 2007–2014, and over 100 times for Leicester Tigers across tw ...

' 80th minute drop goal which sealed a 15-12 win for Leicester. Chessum played in 14 from 17 games at the start of the 2021-22 season and his form saw him called up for the squad for the

2022 Six Nations Championship The 2022 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 23rd Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England national rugby union team, England ...

on 18 January 2022, England coach Eddie Jones compared Chessum to

Courtney Lawes Courtney Linford Lawes is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a second or back row for Northampton Saints in the Gallagher Premiership. He has made over 250 appearances for his club. Early life and education Lawes was born ...

, highlighting his lineout skills and his ball-carrying abilities. On 13 February 2022 Chessum made his England debut as a replacement in a 33-0 win over Italy in Rome.

International tries

References

External links

* 2000 births Living people English rugby union players Leicester Tigers players Nottingham R.F.C. players Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Boston, Lincolnshire England international rugby union players {{England-rugbyunion-bio-stub