England sweat on Ollie Chessum’s fitness after training camp injury

Ollie Chessum has emerged as a major injury doubt for England, who begin their autumn internationals against New Zealand on Saturday, after sustaining a knee injury during last week’s training camp in Girona.

The 24-year-old missed out on the summer tour of Japan and New Zealand due to a shoulder injury but has been in impressive form for Leicester this season. He started every match of the Six Nations earlier this year and he is valued highly by Steve Borthwick, who has deployed him at second row and blindside flanker during his tenure. All the more so given Courtney Lawes’ retirement from international duty.

England are yet to confirm the expected length of his layoff as they wait on the results of scans but the worst case scenario is that he is sidelined for the entire series with the All Blacks, Australia, South Africa and Japan all due at Twickenham next month. His absence against New Zealand and beyond would be a major setback for Borthwick before a campaign that comes at a crucial stage in his tenure.

Chessum, who was among the 17 players handed an enhanced England contract on Friday, also suffered a nasty training ground injury to his ankle when on international duty in March 2023 that he initially feared would rule him out of last year’s World Cup.

In his absence over the summer, Chandler Cunningham-South was used at blindside flanker with George Martin – Chessum’s Leicester teammate – partnering Maro Itoje in the second row. Tom Curry was used as a replacement throughout the tour but could also rekindle his Kamikaze Kids partnership with Sam Underhill in the back row along with Ben Earl, who is certain to start against New Zealand. Charlie Ewels, Nick Isiekwe, Alex Dombrandt and Ben Curry are the other back-five options at Borthwick’s disposal.

Borthwick is already without his first-choice scrum-half Alex Mitchell, who has a neck injury and has not played all season, while Fraser Dingwall is also nursing a knee injury. George Ford continued his rehab from a quad injury in Girona.