Sleaford star Ollie Chessum aims for Lions success on first tour

Chessum, 24, first played rugby at Carre’s Grammar School and also for his home town club before eventually making the grade with Nottingham, Leicester Tigers and England.

And as he now gets set for his first Lions tour, he reflected to lionsrugby.com on his journey so far and how he was overwhelmed by his inclusion.

“When you make your international debut, you want to keep building to that next step, but I thought there’s no way,” he said.

“Even though I’d played my international debut, I thought ‘I’m so out of my depth here, how do lads go from international rugby to being the best of that bunch?’.

“Four years ago, I’d probably have laughed in your face if you told me I would be here. But I’m over the moon.

“Everyone has got their own journey and I’m not going to knock mine, it’s got me here.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Chessum said: “I came out of school and was in the academy for just a few weeks before I went to Nottingham.

“I was clueless. I didn’t know what to do in the gym. I had to learn everything from scratch. It has definitely helped to motivate me and I think I am happy I had that experience. I wouldn’t call it a setback, but it is not all smooth sailing. It is not a constant upward curve that sometimes you expect.

“I had to take a step back, but that has helped push me forward, even if I didn’t get to where I wanted to when I was 18-19.”

Ollie’s brother Lewis is also a talented player, also being in the Tigers ranks and a former England U20s captain.

But their mum, Michelle, said she was shocked when Ollie first opted to play rugby.

She told the Six Nations website: “He came home one evening and said he’d been picked to play rugby.

“I explicitly remember saying, ‘there’s no way you can play, they’ll kill you, you don’t know what you’re doing.’ He had never played before then. We weren’t a particularly big rugby family although we did follow international rugby.”

The rest, as they say, is history, as Chessum’s career has gone from strength to strength and he will take his place on the plane for the Lions tour, the first match being on June 20.

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