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Ollie Chessum named Leicester Tigers captain for trip to Exeter Chiefs

By Josh Raisey
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
10:05
21 Sep 24
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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N
Nickers 3 hours ago
Why the All Blacks overlooking Joe Schmidt could yet hurt them in the Bledisloe battle

I've never understood why Razor stayed on in NZ after winning 3 SR titles in a row. Surely at that point it's time to look for the next thing, which at that stage of his career should not have been the ABs, and arguably still shouldn't be given his lack of experience in International rugby. What was gained by staying on at the Crusaders to win 4 more titles?


2 years in the premiership, 2 years as an assistant international coach, then 4 years taking a team through a WC cycle would have given him what he needed to be the best ABs coach. As it is he is learning on the job, and his inexperience shows even more when he surrounds himself with assistant coaches who have no top international experience either.


He is being faced with extreme adversity and pressure now, possibly for the first time in his coaching career. Maybe he will come through well and maybe he won't, but the point is the coaching selection process is so flawed that he is doing it for the first time while in arguably the top coaching job in world rugby. It's like your first job out of university being the CEO of Microsoft or Google.


There was talk of him going to England if the ABs didn't get him, that would have been perfect in my opinion. That is a super high pressure environment and NZR would have been way better off letting him learn the trade with someone else's team. I predicted when Razor was appointed that he would be axed or resign after 2 years then go on to have a lot of success in his next appointment. I hope that doesn't happen because it will mean a lot of turmoil for the ABs, but it's not unthinkable. Many of his moves so far look exactly like the early days of Foster's era when he too was flanked by coaches who were not up to the job. I would like to see some combination of Cotter, Joseph, Brown, and Felix Jones come into the set up.

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