Ollie Chessum ruled out of Internationals

England have suffered a major setback on the eve of the Autumn Nations Series, with Ollie Chessum likely to miss the entire campaign after sustaining a knee injury in training last week.

Chessum is understood to have twisted awkwardly after being involved in an off-the-ball collision during a conditioned match in Girona. While the 24-year-old will undergo further scans, an initial prognosis suggests that he faces a lay-off of between two to three months. That would rule Chessum out of all four of England’s autumn fixtures against New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Japan.

Having travelled to Girona on the back of some excellent form for Leicester Tigers in the Premiership, following a summer in which he underwent surgery on shoulder and thumb injuries, Chessum would have been pushing hard for a starting place; either at lock or blindside flanker.

He wore six, behind a lock partnership of Maro Itoje and George Martin, for England’s win over Ireland during the Six Nations and then in their narrow loss to France the following weekend.

Chessum was one of 17 players to be awarded an enhanced elite-player contract and his value to Steve Borthwick had been underlined by a visit to camp in June ahead of the summer tour to Japan and New Zealand. For three consecutive Tests on that trip, England picked a back row of Chandler Cunningham-South, Sam Underhill and Ben Earl with Itoje and Martin.

They will have the option to retain that same back-five combination against the All Blacks next weekend, although Martin has not played since Leicester’s visit to Newcastle Falcons on October 10. Michael Cheika, the Tigers head coach, revealed on Wednesday that he had enquired about the possibility of Martin playing for Leicester against Saracens on Saturday and had been turned down.

As for England’s other options across the second and back rows, they have Charlie Ewels and Nick Isiekwe in their training squad. Isiekwe, like Chessum capable of covering blindside flanker as well as lock, is understood to have been asked to increase his involvement around the field and has been industrious for Saracens so far this term.

Ben and Tom Curry are two more flankers in Borthwick’s group, with Alex Dombrandt another specialist No 8. Should they opt to replace Chessum, Alex Coles – another hybrid forward comfortable at lock and blindside flanker – returned to action for Northampton Saints on Friday evening against Bristol Bears. Tom Pearson, Tom Willis, Greg Fisilau and Ethan Roots have all been involved in training camps this season.

It is not the first time that Chessum has picked up a training-ground injury on England duty. He suffered a fracture dislocation of his ankle during the 2023 Six Nations, which required surgery and set him in a race against time to make that year’s World Cup.

“I got a tackle from behind and I got my foot caught. It was just a freak training accident,” Chessum said of that incident.

“Initially I just thought I’d rolled it, but as I rolled over and the lads were around me, I saw them all turn away and that’s when I knew I should probably have a quick look – and my foot wasn’t where it was supposed to be.”