'To have an owl follow you around, I feel that would be quality'

Ollie Hassell-Collins can’t disagree with the description of him that London Irish boss Declan Kidney delivered to RugbyPass in January when he was on the cusp of his maiden Guinness Six Nations squad call-up. Quiet lad, a kid of few words was the gist of the character reference and it was spot on as we learned this last week. Appointed as his club’s ambassador for the RPA’s Restart charity awareness and fund-raising weekend, the 23-year-old typified how Kidney had described him when interviewed over Zoom from his club’s training ground in Hazelwood.

“I think I am,” admitted Hassell-Collins when asked if his boss was on the money stating that he was a rather shy character. “I assess and then decide what I want to say. I express myself in that way rather than really talking in meetings. I kind of absorb the information rather than say stuff in front of everyone, but I give little pieces of wisdom to the young lads every now and then on the pitch.”

And yet, despite his bashfulness, the winger oozes personality in other colourful ways. Take the tattoos he has on both arms. Without hesitation, he held them up to the screen and gave a rundown on the stories behind some of them, ranging from holiday high jinx to family poignancy.

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“That was my first one,” he said, pointing to his right arm. “From Magaluf. I can’t remember when. It was good craic, though. I’ve got this one as well, that’s a stag, Newbury Rugby Club’s crest, which also means protection and that kind of stuff. That is my family motto, ‘By the path the hill, he conquers, he endures’. These are my family’s initials, an N, C and a P, in Latin. And this is for Nan as well, she passed away last year.”

The intrigue doesn’t end there as Hassell-Collins is a self-confessed Harry Potter fanatic who is still so absorbed by the exploits of the young wizard that his regular go-to relaxation on the eve of a match is to watch one of the many movies that were made.

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“For me, it was growing up in a similar timeline and it would be so cool to have a wand and do magic and all that kind of stuff,” he enthused when asked what his fascination is, adding that his favourite watch is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. “To have an owl follow you around, I feel that would be quality. So just the lifestyle that he lives as well would be unreal. I don’t know, it’s my get-away. Before a game, I put that on the night before just to be able to relax and just not have to think about anything else really.”

Away from those off-field interests in tattoos and Potter, Hassell-Collins has inked himself on the tapestry of the 2021/22 season with some wizardry of his own. It was October 2018 when he made his London Irish debut, starting in a Championship win over Cornish Pirates in Reading, and his potency has reached very impressive levels during his three Premiership seasons.

There were nine tries in 18 appearances during his first top-flight campaign, six in 18 last term, but he is now back on song, delivering nine tries in 17 league starts in what he describes as his best season yet ahead of this Sunday’s showdown with Wasps in Brentford.

Naturally, it has to be rated his best given his involvement with England over the course of the recent Six Nations. He finished the tournament uncapped but the experience sounds like just the tonic to fire him on to even greater things in the years ahead. “I went into it and didn’t expect anything, I didn’t expect to play, all that kind of stuff. For me it was about a new environment, new coaches and they are the best players in England.

“It was just learning about what they do, what makes an international team and just trying to get as much information as I can, what other clubs are doing, all that stuff to try and get the most out of my experience and take it back to Irish.”

What stood out most with England? “Just the intensity of every session, that was the biggest thing. I try and push myself in training (with Irish) to hit that same intensity as I was back there. Hopefully, the boys will see me and do the same thing, try and push themselves as well.”

Hassell-Collins wasn’t the only new young gun from the Irish that Eddie Jones had a look at. Tom Pearson and Will Goodrick-Clarke also had their training squad call-ups and it can’t be long before London Irish finally have a capped England player in their ranks.

“It would be huge. Credit to the coaches for the way they are striving for us to get better and to be able to play, I am lucky enough to play most of these weeks to put me in the shop window. I’m sure Tom Pearson and Will Goodrick-Clarke would say the same thing, they are happy with the coaches putting their trust into the players every week and putting them in the shop windows for Eddie to see and show him what we can do, having that freedom to express ourselves.”

It took a while for Hassell-Collins to fully cotton on to that approach at Irish. “It took me a bit of time. Les (Kiss) is massive on wingers working hard off their wings and getting around the park so it took me a bit of time. For me, it was a bit of confidence. I wasn’t sure where my place was, I didn’t want to put a foot out of line, all that kind of stuff.

“It took me a bit of time to build that up so I could be a bit more confident on the ball around the boys on the pitch. He really pushed that on, getting us working off our wings, and that has improved. That is one of the biggest parts of my game now, being able to work off my wing and make an impact elsewhere. It’s good that, I like it.”

His confidence is such that he now has no qualms about putting himself forward to do things such as representing London Irish and the Restart charity. “I did it last year and then got asked to do it again and I was, ‘Yeah, absolutely’.

“It’s massive. What it does for the players is huge. We go through a lot. It’s important to understand that it does affect us as well, the keyboard warriors. It’s important that people understand that we go through the same thing,” adding that this hasn’t been an issue that personally affected him. “No, thankfully not. But it has been a massive thing with England football in the Euros and whatever. It’s a big thing at the moment.

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“It’s quite easy looking from the outside that we are sportsmen, we can handle it but actually it’s not that easy. Having Restart there is massive for the players and for it to be so successful as well makes everything so much easier.

“You can have your family, your girlfriend and all that stuff but it’s nice to know we have got that charity there as well that can really help us. A couple of Irish boys had to finish early and no doubt they went to the charity for help.”

Hassell-Collins always fancied making it as a pro rugby player and now that he is established at London Irish, he hasn’t forgotten the helping hands he had along the way. “I always wanted to be a professional but I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do it. So I came through the county and then did the A’s programme and once I got into that programme, the U18s, the academy set-up at Irish, that is what I thought I could make a bit of a go at this.

“I was lucky enough my parents were so supportive. They took me to all the sessions on a Monday night, picked me up from school and took me up the M3 to about an hour away. It was a long trek for them but they did that. I was lucky enough to have the coaches, the likes of James Lightfoot-Brown and Dec Danaher were massive for me. They helped me come through the senior academy and I’m still chatting to them today.”