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Ollie Chessum named Leicester Tigers captain for trip to Exeter Chiefs

Ollie Chessum of England looks on after the Guinness Six Nations 2024 match between England and Ireland at Twickenham Stadium on March 09, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Davidson - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

Ollie Chessum will captain a Leicester Tigers side with four debutants for their opening match of the Gallagher Premiership season against Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park.

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In the Tigers’ first competitive match under new coach Michael Cheika, the England lock/flanker will lead the side with his England teammate Jack van Poortvliet serving as vice-captain.

The two debutants in the starting XV are Wales loosehead prop Nicky Smith and Wallabies centre Izaia Perese, with French lock Côme Joussain and Fiji flyhalf Ben Volavola poised to make their first appearances from the bench.

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Leicester’s captain last season Julian Montoya is currently on international duty, where he will lead Argentina against South Africa in the Rugby Championship hours after Leicester get their season underway.

Chessum missed England’s summer tour of Japan and New Zealand with a shoulder injury, but is firing on all cylinders again and takes his place in the Leicester second row alongside Harry Wells, who will make his 200th appearance.

Fixture
Gallagher Premiership
Exeter Chiefs
14 - 17
Full-time
Leicester
All Stats and Data

“It’s an exciting game for everyone at the club,” Cheika said.

“We’re all looking forward to this first league game of the season. We’ve made good progress over the pre-season and still have a long way to go but this is how we get there; playing for points each weekend, starting in Exeter.

“I’m really happy to see Harry reach 200 games. It’s a fantastic achievement and I know everyone will be doing all they can to make it a special day for him.

“Ollie and Jack have earned the right to lead with their actions throughout pre-season, and they’ll be supported a team of players who are all ready to do their jobs and enjoy what will be a tough battle together for the first time in Tigers colours.”

Leicester Tigers XV
15 Freddie Steward [88]
14 Josh Bassett [15]
13 Izaia Perese *
12 Solomone Kata [19]
11 Ollie Hassell-Collins [22]
10 Jamie Shillcock [26]
9 Jack van Poortvliet [73]
1 Nicky Smith *
2 Charlie Clare [95]
3 Joe Heyes [141]
4 Harry Wells [199]
5 Ollie Chessum (C) [56]
6 Hanro Liebenberg [107]
7 Olly Cracknell [43]
8 Kyle Hatherell [20]

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Replacements
16 Finn Theobald-Thomas [9]
17 James Cronin [34]
18 Dan Cole [323]
19 Côme Joussain *
20 Tommy Reffell [114]
21 Ben Youngs [314]
22 Ben Volavola *
23 Dan Kelly [81]

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J
JW 11 hours ago
France player ratings vs England | 2025 Six Nations

Sorry my delivery on that joke was a bit bland. But to reply to the couple of good points you make, to me it just seemed like they had no plan with why Gatland was staying on. I mean the plan seemed to be “just get us a win against Italy and we can continue on as we are”, which is just terrible if that’s what Gatland was trying to achieve for Wales imo.


Did it just happen to be Italy that he saw his team weren’t able to achieve his vision of success? I mean Italy are a very good side so its by no means a lost cause to not look like world beaters. Sure his focus should have been on more transient factors like growth and style for a full rebuild, not trying to avoid the wooden spoon.


Which brings me to you main point, that would be exactly what the benefit of dropping down a tier would be. A chance to really implement something, get good at it, then take it up a level again once you’re ready. Even for Italy it must have been an incredibly brutal environment to have been trying to develop as a side.


Not saying of course that the other EU teams would be any better, but it might be better for everyone if say ‘years of tough losses’ are shared between countries, rather than see Wales go through this journey two, three, possible four years in a row. Of course the main reason they don’t want to miss just one 6N season is because it would probably tank the game in their country missing out on all that revenue. I have always said they should look at widening the revenue share, there are plenty of competitions that have systems to keep bottom teams competitive, and the 6N would only make more money if it was a tierd competition with prom/rel.

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