Ollie Hassell-Collins: 'I don't sit there hating on them'

With his capacity to produce endless highlight reel moments, Ollie Hassell-Collins is the type of player to get people off their feet – a feeling that he is getting used to himself, as a modern-day winger required to field kick after kick.

Aerial ability may not be the thing that you’d most readily associate with the former London Irish man, but excelling in that aspect of the game is something he prides himself in, and now enjoys.

Ollie Hassell-Collins, who has scored a try in each of the last two games, is all-in when it comes to the battle for the skies.

“If you go in 50:50, you’re probably going to get hurt. If you go all in, you’re probably be alright. I have had a few times where I have landed flat on my back and it has hurt, it has winded me tough. I am kind of used to it now, and we feel quite good at it as a unit.

“The feeling when you go up and catch the ball above your head, the feeling of coming down with the ball, is like scoring a try. It is so good. You know when you have got it spot on.

“We are trying to catch it above our head. That’s been a massive focus since Geoff’s come in, because if you get it above your head, then it (the aerial contest) is less 50:50.

“A lot of teams are just trying to slap it or get a hand involved, and we’ve found if we can get it above our head, that doesn’t happen, and then it is just about us catching it.”

Hassell-Collins has played a lot of rugby this season – 25 games if you include his outing for England A – but with Adam Radwan fit again, and Gabe Hamer-Webb playing with the confidence of a newly-capped international, the competition for places out wide has got even tougher.

“I think the main thing is we all get along; I don’t sit there hating on them if they get the jersey. We are helping each other, pushing each other,” he said.

Like Hamer-Webb, Hassell-Collins could have had a Welsh cap by now, as he qualifies for Wales on the grandparent ruling and made the last of his two England appearances over three years ago.

However, the 27-year-old has no regrets about not pursuing that route back into Test rugby. “I definitely made the right decision. I am happy with what I have done, I will always back myself no matter what.”

Nor does he regret his latest choice of hairstyle – a perm. “I’ve had quite a lot of haircuts since I have been here, the only things I haven’t done are a Buzz or a Mullet, I think I’ll stay away from them. I haven’t done a perm before, I’ve never had curly hair, so I just thought I’d mix it up and see how it looks. I quite like it. I am trying to test out haircuts for my wedding next year.”

Leicester being blessed with quality wingers is a situation mirrored across the league. It feels like a golden era for finishers, with teenage talent Noah Caluori taking the game to new heights.

At the other end of the age scale, Tom O’Flaherty, 31, has been playing out of his skin and been a shining light in an otherwise dark season for the Sale, Leicester’s hosts on Sunday.

With O’Flaherty likely to be on one wing and another Tom, England’s Roebuck, on the other, the final match of Round 16 will have plenty of firepower on show.

“Both of them bring a lot to that team, we’ll try and keep them quiet,” said Hassell-Collins

“On O’Flaherty, I think he’s almost been one of the most under-rated players. I thnk he’s always been very good when he plays: he is very good in the air; he is very good at beating defenders; he has got a good strike-rate. He just maybe doesn’t get enough credit.

“I think as a country I think we are very blessed for wingers,” he added.

“We are pushing each other. If you see someone do something quite good, you think, ‘I need to do this and work on this and get better on this’.”

Third-placed Leicester haven’t won in the league at Sale since May 2018, and Hassell-Collins says everyone at Tigers knows that last weekend’s 41-17 win over Northampton will count for nothing if they don’t back it up on Sunday.

“We’ve said it’s easy to bring that emotion because of the derby and because of the sell-out, it is now about going up to Sale and bringing the same emotion, the same intensity, the same physicality, from minute one, especially at this time of the year; we can’t let that be a one-off.”