Pau put on red alert after Geoff Parling injury update

Leicester head coach Geoff Parling has confirmed that England loose forward Ollie Chessum will lead the Tigers into this season’s Champions Cup campaign.

The Tigers’ club captain hasn’t played for the club since last season’s play-off defeat to Northampton due to a foot injury, but is now fit to take his place in the pack against Pau on Sunday.

“Ches will be back for us,” Parling said. “You obviously want your best players playing, and it’s great to have him back in the squad – both from a playing point of view and a leadership point of view and what he does there.

“I would say that the guys that have been playing have been great and done really well. I’d point to someone like Finn Carnduff, who has done so many good things after a pretty wretched season last season, but it great to have Ches back.

“We’ve still got some people out (injured), but it is not affecting how we prep and how we train,” he added.

Success in the Champions Cup has proved elusive for Tigers for a number of years, and a trip to the Stade de Hameau represents a tough start for a team looking to put that record straight.

One-time relegation candidates Pau have only lost one of their first six games this season and are second in the Top 14 table, having established themselves as a team to be feared in France’s top division.

Whilst not stacked with stars to the extent of a Toulouse or a Toulon, one of Pau’s main men, fly-half Joe Simmonds, is very familiar to Parling from their time as team-mates at Exeter (2015-17).

“I know Joe, he’s a good guy, a good kicker, a good game manager and just a genuine good player; he is enjoying his time in France and it is good to see him going well,” said Parling.

Head-to-Head

We do not have any previous games on record.

Leicester’s discipline will have to be on point if they are not going to come off second-best to Simmonds’ punishing boot.

Simmonds is the second-highest points scorer in the Top 14, having collected 46 points from four appearances, with a success rate in front of goal of 95.5%.

“When I speak about the French crowd, you bring them into the game if you are ill-disciplined.

“Discipline is just accuracy for me – being really, really auccrate in what you do,” Parling added.

More than two months will have passed before Leicester tackle their next French assignment, the clash at home to Clermont on Saturday, 12 December..

Leicester then travel to Glasgow in Round 3 and host Leinster in Round 4, on back-to-back weekends in January.

Parling would prefer a less fragmented structure. “I don’t think it makes a difference to us in terms of prepping, but I’d prefer two blocks of two, I’d prefer to have some consecutive rounds in there, just in terms of the feel of it really.