Andy Farrell highlights ‘buckling down’ England player he has ‘really enjoyed working with’ but falls short of agreeing he is ‘a bit Tom Crofty’
British and Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell with an inset of Tom Croft
Andy Farrell has talked up Ollie Chessum’s chances of making the British and Irish Lions team for the upcoming Test series versus Australia.
The England forward was catapulted on Monday into the conversation to face the Wallabies with his selection at blindside to take on the Brumbies this Wednesday.
The 24-year-old has started just once in the Lions’ four tour matches so far. His involvement in the Premiership final with Leicester meant he wasn’t a contender to face Argentina in the game in Dublin due to a lack of prep with Farrell’s squad.
When he was selected after that omission, it was at lock. There was a 32-minute run off the bench as a sub for Scott Cummings against the Western Force in Perth and a 58-minute appearance as a starter with tour skipper Maro Itoje versus the Reds in Brisbane.
“He understands the game, the holistic game…”
Having then been overlooked against the Waratahs in Sydney, Chessum now returns to the fold in Canberra – but he will pack down blindside behind Itoje and Joe McCarthy in a back row with Tom Curry, who twice started at No.6 in recent weeks, switching to openside and Jack Conan at No.8.
It’s a positional versatility that Chessum has shown before with England. Steve Borthwick picked him at lock in tandem with Itoje in his three appearances in the 2025 Six Nations, but there were starts at blindside in the 2024 tournament in the matches versus Ireland and France.
Six is the role that Chessum will now adopt with the Lions, and head coach Farrell didn’t downplay the English player’s odds of Test team involvement now that he has been shifted from lock to back row.
“He’s got a chance 100 per cent,” enthused Farrell after naming a team to face the Brumbies that has just one starter – Blair Kinghorn – retained from the unconvincing weekend win over the Waratahs.
“I have really enjoyed working with him. The emotion that he showed getting selected has spilt over into him really buckling down, trying to prove to himself and his teammates that he is going to thrive in this type of situation, so he has been very impressive.
“Everyone in the second row has been really competing but this is a different option for us, like we did with Tadhg Beirne as well, so I think there is good competition there.”
Asked what had particularly impressed him about Chessum, Farrell added: “He is a big man. He’s obviously a fantastic lineout option, but he moves really well.
“For big men sometimes, it can be not as flowing, but he is a rugby player throughout, as in good with the ball in hand, he understands the game, the holistic game, so it will be interesting to see how he goes at six.”
There was then a suggestion that Chessum has a likeness to Tom Croft, the retired Leicester and England back-rower who toured with the Lions in 2009 and 2013.
“Does it feel a bit Tom Crofty? I think Crofty was some athlete, tall but really quick and explosive. I think (Ollie is) more of a hybrid between a pure lock and a six. Crofty was probably a six first, wasn’t he?”
