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'We’re growing as a team and that’s a scary thing for any team'
It’s curious the negative narrative that can be built up about England when facing the more bruising international teams. Last weekend, Elliot Daly had to stress “No, it’s not terrifying” when quizzed about the juddering Fijians that would be running his channel and looking for collisions.
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This week, ahead of taking on the Springboks on Saturday’s Rugby World Cup semi-final, it was the turn of Ollie Chessum to take on a pile of queries about the supposed fears of battling the defending champions.
“I don’t know if fear is the right word,” he replied. “There is an awareness that we know what is coming, there is awareness of their ability, the threats they pose. They play against top-class teams, they play against players, people that will target them week in, week out and they are still able to do what they do. It’s our job to stop them.”
Let’s flip the chatter on its head: what threats to England have to put the wind up the Boks at Stade de France? “You see we are improving week by week as a group. In the warm-up games at the start, we were in a strange place but we are starting to figure ourselves out and we’re finding our identity and we know what we bring as a team and we’re growing as a team and that’s a scary thing for any team, that we’re not the complete article yet and we’re winning games like we are.
“Stripping it back, our set-piece is a massive part of England’s game and has been for years and then working for each other, running. Steve (Borthwick) has a thing of never stopping. That’s something we are trying to do.”
Give us a prime example of that never stopping. “The game last weekend, we were points up, it went to 24-all. If you stop there Fiji walk away with that game and we’re not here now.”
Here now is the eastern side of Paris, a world away from where Chessum was in his career four years ago when England dethroned the All Blacks in the 2019 semi-final in Japan. “I was playing at Nottingham when the last World Cup was around. It was an incredible performance, wasn’t it?
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“Probably one of England’s best performances at a World Cup. I imagine I watched it at home, I can’t imagine I watched it at training. Home with family. It was quite an inspiring performance. Everyone has got very fond memories of that game as an England fan.”
How does the 23-year-old with 16 caps just days out from playing the biggest match of his short career reflect on those formative experiences in the Championship? “I hadn’t got offers from anywhere else. Nottingham were the last people to approach me and said, ‘We want to give you a shot. They were incredible with me. I was fresh out of school and they gave me the tools. I have got massive credit for them.
“In my position anyway, the Championship is about set-piece so at 19, thrown in scrummaging and mauling against seasoned professionals, some blokes who played in the Premiership. I was a 19-year-old kid and there were fully grown men running at me… It was massive for me. It was the place that gave me the opportunity to be where I am now.
“I took a bit of a weirder journey than most people do. I didn’t go through the academy stuff so I am proud of that, but you don’t get to relish something too much when you’re here (in the England squad). You just focus on what you’re doing. But if someone told me back in 2019 I would be at the World Cup I’d have laughed in their face.”
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Among the faces that Chessum will be quickly recognising on Saturday night at Stade de France will be that belonging to a certain Eben Etzebeth. “For me, he is one of the best in the second row if not the best and has been for quite some time,” reckoned the Leicester lock.
“The engine he has got on him. He has actually been subbed off a little bit but it’s usually an 80-minute performance, a big physical set-piece. He is sort of everything South African rugby us about really.”
NO LONGER UNDER THE RADAR: The media pack following England ramped up on Tuesday, with vision access in Paris featuring a football match in which Steve Borthwick even had a kick. #ENGvRSA #RWC2023 #EnglandRugby pic.twitter.com/HnGhqcHM4H
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 17, 2023
Etzebeth will partner with Franco Mostert but Chessum learned post his interview that he won’t be pairing up with Maro Itoje from the start in a partnership he felt was flourishing; George Martin was instead named for a surprise start. “It’s really grown now. The combinations we run at set-pieces are a huge part of that relationship and I feel like it has grown.
“I have played 16 games now, I would imagine a large few of them have been alongside Maro. It’s obviously going to take time for relationships like that to grow and mould, but I really feel like it is in a good place now,” he said, adding how he will go about being mentally ready to give it his all.
“It’s as simple as if you don’t turn up then you haven’t got a shot, not against these big teams, not against teams in semi-finals. If you are anything less than 100 per cent they are going to walk all over you, so as a player you have got to use the week to get yourself right.
“The coaches will put us in the best position in terms of the training and what have you and then off the field, each player has got their own individual unique ways of doing it. For me, I just know I have a job to do and if I don’t do it then I am letting the team down.
“The big motivating factor for me and the rev-up factor is I’m playing for England, I’m playing for my country and I’m playing for my country at a World Cup and we are facing South Africa and every time you play for your country it shouldn’t be that hard to rev yourself up.
“You have got to rise to the challenge but we play rugby and it’s a physical game. If you don’t bring physicality against any team then you are going to struggle, so from that aspect it’s certainly not particularly hard to brace yourself for a physical game against South Africa. It’s your job to be physical and it’s our job this weekend to be physical.
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“We have got full faith in the plan. Everyone has to, that is what makes a plan work, that everyone buys into it 100 per cent and everyone goes out there with the intention of executing their role to the best of their abilities.
“Of course, there are going to be times when you get punched in the face and the plan changes. There has just got to be complete buy-in and there is with this group in terms of going after a game plan and really attacking a game.
“We are doing it for ourselves, for the group. We owe it to each other. It’s been a long campaign. June 12 was when we came in as a group and started training. It’s a long time to be together and we have seen what we have to go through to get here, the hard work that has gone in behind the scenes, the things that everyone does for us.
“We are doing it for ourselves as a group and the families back home and we are doing it for the country, we are representing England and we should take massive pride in doing that and we do.”
That pride manifests itself in a few different ways, namely the exuberant celebration of the in-game wins and also the emotion of the pre-game singing of the national anthem. “I have seen Ben Earl has been copping a bit of stick in the media for the way he celebrates,” Chessim acknowledged.
“I don’t think it comes from certainly not a bad place; it’s just genuine passion, we’re playing for England at a World Cup, why shouldn’t we be excited? Our backs have been against the wall a little bit coming into this tournament and certainly in parts of the games that we played.
The Ollie Chessum verdict on England being the only unbeaten team heading into this weekend's Rugby World Cup semi-finals. #ENGvRSA #RWC2023 #EnglandRugby pic.twitter.com/dwwB9Z9LfA
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 18, 2023
“It wasn’t pretty against Samoa, our backs were against the wall for a fair bit, and again against Fiji in their purple patch. When you have got boys like Courtney (Lawes) winning you turnovers, when you are making tackles and knock-ons happen, it’s a massive momentum shift in a game.
“From us when we watch a game we know how crucial those moments are and how they can swing momentum and now they can change a game. Why shouldn’t we be excited by that?”
As for the singing, “I often find myself stood next to Fred (Steward) or George (Ford), we have got a bit of a thing going on. There is a fair few photos knocking about of Freddie with his gob wide open. I’ve had him screaming in my ear a few times.
“It’s immense pride that you are able to stand in that position and sing the anthem. There are not that many people who have been able to do it. I’m very fortunate but you have also got to remember once that 30 seconds or whatever is over you are into a Test match game.
“It’s a strange, strange feeling. For me, I’m filled with immense pride singing the anthem. You’re stood there with your teammates but then once it’s finished it’s game on.”
Comments on RugbyPass
So if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
67 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
1 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
17 Go to commentsThis is might be the most generalised, entitled, patronising, out-of-pocket cultural indictment on a group of people you’ll ever see on what is supposedly a sports publication. I can only assume the author is weak like a woman or homosexual. I’m feeling an incredible range of emotions but I am not quite sure how to express them. I might go beat up a hockey player - assuming that’s okay with Duane and the boys? 🙂
9 Go to commentsBest thing the Welsh clubs could do is apply to join Gallagher prem surely be more exciting matches for there support than they have now.
2 Go to commentsRugbyPass writers are useless! you guys should get a real job because you all suck at writing about rugby!!!
9 Go to commentslooking forward to RWC2027 …. Boks on mission impossible for the Three-in-a-row, ABs to prove they being on par, France wishing to crown the “DuPont-era”, Ireland knocking on the Semi-Door ….. until then we’ll probably have to deal with Weird Ben’s fantasy-RWC23 (fun fact is, the drivel always creates a flooding of comments) …..
221 Go to commentsBen Smith you really make some good points in this article, the Springboks were not close to perfect and good still beat the All Blacks, imagine if they were as good as they were against France what a hiding the All Blacks would have gotten… maybe another Twickenham drubbing
221 Go to commentsIt is a good argument to keep the Rebels for one more year but also isnt this just opening the door as well for keeping them beyond 2025. If they can create some sort of financial stability in the next year and if their performances lift as they have this season then how would RA even cull them after that? It might be the most cost effective decision at this stage and perhaps many people are guilty of keeping relationships going because of the cost to decouple but then again when does that ever work out well?
24 Go to commentsDear Ben Smith you are a genius! God please become the next all blacks coach that can take on the mighty BOKS. Your rugby acumen is second to none - imagine your dads sperm bounced as unfortunately as that oval ball did….we would not be blessed with your presence. Just as the all blacks were missing a man you too are missing a chromosome for 80% of your life, so your insights are not only profound but ring true from your own experiences. Just as the TMO interfered with citing an illegal pass I am sure your local authorities interfere with your illegal passes you make on women - How dare they!!! God forbid that rugby be officiated fairly. You are the right man for the job. Next all blacks coach is here ladies and gentlemen Miss Ben Smith (He/She/They/IT)
221 Go to commentsHuge engine this guy and great to see him back ..The amount of clean outs he does at the ruck are ridiculous !!
3 Go to commentsThe level of desperation in this article is just embarrassing.
221 Go to commentsSome silly trolling in the comments.
9 Go to commentsEverywhere you turn some irish journo is advocating Ireland as the greatest, reasoning that the wc is a 4 year cycle event so, they say wc doesn’t matter it’s the rugby in between that should account for the accolade. If there was no wc then some substance could be gained, however in my opinion the moment that defined Ireland’s fate against the abs was 37 phases of repeated head bashing against a brick wall. If a change in strategy or a tinker with the game plan was executed then things could've been vastly different. And to point a finger the let down was in the hands of the number 10.
67 Go to commentsI have heard it asked if RA is essentially one of the part owners and I suppose therefor should be on the other side of these two parties. If they purchased the rebels and guaranteed them, and are responsible enough they incur Rebels penalties, where is this line drawn? Seems rough to have to pay a penalty for something were your involvement sees you on the side of the conned party, the creditors. If the Rebels directors themselves have given the club their money, 6mil worth right, why aren’t they also listed as sitting with RA and the Tax office? And the legal threat was either way, new Rebels or defunct, I can’t see how RA assume the threat was less likely enough to warrant comment about it in this article. Surely RA ignore that and only worry about whether they can defend it or not, which they have reported as being comfortable with. So in effect wouldn’t it be more accurate to say there is no further legal threat (or worry) in denying the deal. Unless the directors have reneged on that. > Returns of a Japanese team or even Argentinean side, the Jaguares, were said to be on the cards, as were the ideas of standing up brand new teams in Hawaii or even Los Angeles – crazy ideas that seemingly forgot the time zone issues often cited as a turn-off for viewers when the competition contained teams from South Africa. Those timezones are great for SR and are what will probably be needed to unlock its future (cant see it remaining without _atleast _help from Aus), day games here are night games on the West Coast of america, were potential viewers triple, win win. With one of the best and easiest ways to unlock that being to play games or a host a team there. Less good the further across Aus you get though. Jaguares wouldn’t be the same Jaguares, but I still would think it’s better having them than keeping the Rebels. The other options aren’t really realistic 25’ options, no. From reading this authors last article I think if the new board can get the investment they seem to be confident in, you keeping them simply for the amount of money they’ll be investing in the game. Then ditch them later if they’re not good enough without such a high budget. Use them to get Jaguares reintergration stronger, with more key players on board, and have success drive success.
24 Go to commentsYeah, and ours is waaay bigger than yours. Just as you's get a semi…oh hold on that never happens
67 Go to commentsLove watching
1 Go to commentsThe Melbourne Rebels lineout is a complete disaster so not surprisingly a kiwi coach of the Wallabies hires the worst lineout coach in the country and a foreigner to boot. No surprises whatsoever here…….
6 Go to commentsThank your for wasting 2 minutes of my life Daniel. There is a useful message in there somewhere but your delivery sucks.
9 Go to commentsBen Smith, you are cry baby
221 Go to comments