Moving from the lock to the back row, where he carried both the six and the eight, Chessum was selected for 14 of Leicester’s 17 appearances during this resurgent season. Don’t assume it was easy because things happened quickly.

Born in Boston, Lincolnshire, Chessum supported the Leicester Tigers and was affiliated with his boyhood club as a teenager. He didn’t quite make it through the senior academy, which starts at 16, but was watched as he represented England Under-18 counties through Kesteven RFC and the NLD side (Notts, Lincs and Derbyshire). This led to an opportunity with Nottingham RFC for the 2019-20 Championship season.

“When Ollie arrived, as tall as he was, he was very thin, shy and just a nice guy,” recalls Nottingham assistant coach Andy Kyriacou. “It became very apparent to us that he was very eager to learn and receptive.”

Lineout jumping, ‘very raw’ aerial skills and working out in the gym were immediate priorities with conditioner James Nolan, who has since moved to Leicester Tigers, a significant influence. The video work improved understanding of Chessum’s game and, because Nottingham had conceded too many pushovers in previous campaigns, defending against the maul became a priority.

Senior teammates, such as club captain Tom Holmes, were also supporting figures. Coincidentally, around the same time, Alfie Barbeary was briefly released from Wasps at Nottingham for a spell affected by injury.

Kyriacou remembers Chessum’s “exceptional” performance against the Cornish Pirates. Mennaye Field is not for the faint-hearted, as Saracens discovered last March. Selected for a Championship Cup game in December 2019, Chessum showed his mettle on an afternoon with lineout steals and “a big line break”. Nottingham won 29-20.

“A great test is always Pirates away. La Mennaye is an old ground that is difficult to play if it has rained a little,” continues Kyriacou. “They obviously built their pack to play on this ground and there’s definitely a style of rugby that is synonymous with the Championship.”

“The good thing about the Championship as a tight five player is that if you don’t step up or grow fast enough, you will be found out. There are a lot of good top five players rolling in. this league, so it was a great place for him to cut his teeth.

“We always try to push a faster style of play, but there is a certain fabric to the pitches and the teams are built in a certain way in the Championship. The top four teams with bigger budgets go for a big pack, so you have to be able to deal with that.

Chessum continued to cope. Kyriacou says “the penny seemed to drop with his ball-carrying and collision work.” He had been drafted into the Tigers’ second string for just one Premiership Shield appearance against Gloucester United a month before their decisive game at Penzance. When Covid-19 reduced the Championship schedule, Leicester approached Chessum. Nottingham head coach Neil Fowkes was delighted to see a star student graduate.