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Training camp incident has England sweating on Ollie Chessum fitness

By PA
Ollie Chessum passes the ball during the England training session held at the Camiral Golf & Wellness Centre on October 23, 2024 in Girona, Spain. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Ollie Chessum has emerged as a major doubt for England’s autumn opener against New Zealand on November 2 because of a knee problem.

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Chessum suffered the injury during the squad’s training camp in Girona last week and the PA news agency understands he is undergoing scans, the final results of which should be known on Sunday.

The 24-year-old is now sweating on his availability not only for the All Blacks’ visit to Allianz Stadium, but also the remainder of the campaign against Australia, South Africa and Japan.

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If ruled out, the Leicester back five forward would be a significant loss to head coach Steve Borthwick.

Chessum provides options in the second and back rows and it was at blindside flanker where he made a strong finish to this year’s Six Nations with impressive displays against Ireland and France.

He would have toured Japan and New Zealand in the summer with the expectation of adding to his 23 caps, only to be sidelined by shoulder and thumb issues that needed surgery.

A recipient of one of 17 enhanced Elite Player Squad contracts announced on Friday, he could now be facing another lengthy interruption to his Test career.

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Northampton scrum-half Alex Mitchell has already been ruled out of the autumn because of a neck injury and there is uncertainty over the return dates of George Ford and Fraser Dingwall.

Centre Henry Slade is aiming to prove his fitness after shoulder surgery in Exeter’s clash with Harlequins on Sunday in what will be his first appearance of the season.

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Comments

1 Comment
C
CM 14 days ago

Fingers crossed on his fitness. SB has painted himself in a corner by choosing jouneymen Ewels and Isiekwe as back up. Neither are anyway near International standard.

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J
JW 34 minutes ago
All Blacks player ratings vs Ireland | Autumn Nations Series

Nah, if you see some picture of a way to blame Dmac rather than the whole team who were slacking and just getting beat by an Argentina team that was up for it then you've got unconscious bias I'm afraid.


The coaching staff (and the team as they had done throughout Fosters era) did just not get them in the right frame of mind. They slackened off after two intense English tests and were slow to build back up into test match intensity after the San Diego run around. You can view that Wellington loss as akin to what went on in Chicago in 2016, it was just delayed a couple of weeks in this instance.


Good reminder of what game management is, unfortunately it doesn't cover all the bases and is missing pivotal parts of lethality.


I think you're misunderstanding the argument, this is about Dmac, not the team, and about his idea of game management, not his application. In none of the games this year, including this weekends one, has he done relentless execution of the basics. His conservative game was neither shrewd or accurate.


The difference here is perspective. You see a win and you want to apply credit, just as you saw a lose and want to apply blame. Dmac's game management in both circumstances was very similar, just in this game I felt that pressure to concentrate on it caused him a few more errors in that application for no real gain in that area, and a much more ineffective attack stop the team from making it a very comfortable game.


The other difference is you a way overplaying Irelands performance imo. They were pathetic. Even in the start of the 2nd when they were trying to get points with the card it felt comfortable they weren't going to have what it takes even if they fixed their error rate. That was the first Bled test where Dmac nearly singlehandedly took an unbeatable 50 lead, a great example of good game management that again just didn't come off. Those tests were not 12 tests ago. Twelve tests ago he was running England around like he'd been in the jersey his whole career. We didn't break any record, the streak is a figment of Irelands imagination to desperately show how good they are to the world. You've been caught hook line and sinker in all these topics sadly.

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