Ollie Chessum has played once at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff but has already been fully immersed into the historic England-Wales rivalry.
Chessum, the forward who was player of the match in the victory over Italy last Sunday, started in the second row for England’s win against Wales in the 2023 Six Nations Championship, but the 24-year-old’s eyes were opened to the hostility of the fixture on the journey to Cardiff.
On the team bus to the Principality Stadium, the Leicester lock, who has also covered blindside for England in this year’s Six Nations, remembers seeing children and grandparents extending the middle finger towards the English coach. Chessum is expecting nothing less this weekend against a Wales side reeling from a record run of 16 consecutive defeats, with England in town hoping to put pressure on France in the race to the title.
“We sort of start out by the quay, and then work our way into the centre of Cardiff,” says Chessum, who has 27 caps. “If you look out the bus window, you’ll see a young lad with his old man, and he’ll give his dad a tap. His dad gives him the approval, and they turn around, and they both give you the middle finger. That’s the kind of thing that sticks out in my memory. And then, that last stretch as you go into Cardiff and the streets are just packed. There’s no other stadium like it really, in that sense. Everywhere else is out in the sticks, the Principality’s slap bang in the mixer.
“I don’t think they can see us, that’s what makes it even better. They’re just shooting in the dark. But they know we’re watching, but it’s special.
“There’s one that sticks out. My memory, it wasn’t even game day. It was the day before and we’re driving through, we pull up at a roundabout; a few vans go by and you get the odd beep and what have you. A car pulls up next to us. There’s mum and grandma in the front seat, and there’s a kid – can’t have been more than five. Grandma winds down the back window, and the kid just gives us the middle finger.
“I enjoy it. Whenever I step out at Twickenham I am a ‘headphones out’ type of guy and I want to embrace that stuff. It does rev you up a little bit. For me, it is probably the best away day as a player that you can have – Cardiff away in the Six Nations and with the nature of the fixture, being in the final round, we are champing at the bit to get down there.”
England will almost certainly need to win in Cardiff, preferably with a bonus point, and hope that Scotland do them a favour in Paris to stand any chance of lifting the Six Nations trophy on Saturday night.
Once England have got through the pre-match greeting in Cardiff, they then will have to deal with the noise of the Principality, which this year for the first time has its roof permanently closed in the championship. Chessum was also struck by the noise in 2023 – when the roof was open – but said that England have not tried to recreate the cacophony at their leafy Pennyhill Park base so far this week.
“I’m not sure it is possible to recreate, because I think if you could, then every team in the world would,” Chessum said. “It’s quite special, but I think you have to acknowledge it. I’ve got a bit of an idea of what’s coming, having already played there.
“I don’t know who’s going to play this weekend, but there’s potentially lads that haven’t experienced something like that before, and you’ve got to acknowledge that, because it’s a huge weapon for them. You speak around the 16th man, or 24th man, whatever you want to call it, that is what that crowd can be for them. When the roof’s shut and the pyros have gone off, and that fog descends on the Principality, it’s a pretty special place to play.
“Jamie [George] said it out in the media about it being around a World Cup final – this is a massive game for both of us. They’d love nothing more than to put a stop to our title hopes and beat us in Cardiff. So we’ve got a mammoth task on our hands to go down there and win first.”
