England dealt blow as Ollie Chessum set to miss summer tour after surgery

Ollie Chessum will miss England’s summer tour after undergoing surgery on a shoulder injury.

The Leicester Tigers lock will miss the rest of the Gallagher Premiership campaign, and is not expected back in club action until the start of next term.

The 23-year-old will therefore miss England’s June Test in Japan, and the two-Test trip to New Zealand in July.

Chessum has established himself as a mainstay of Steve Borthwick’s pack, able to operate at both lock and blindside flanker.

England’s tight game has been bolstered significantly by his size, physicality and accuracy, across both set-piece action and breakdown work.

His Tigers team-mate George Martin will be tasked with picking up more of that slack against Eddie Jones’ Brave Blossoms in Tokyo on June 22, then against the All Blacks in Dunedin on July 6, and Auckland a week later.

Harlequins’ Chandler Cunningham-South will be in the mix to feature in the back-row, having broken through during the Six Nations.

The New Zealand-raised powerhouse has leapt forward in his development this term, and will be gunning to head back to his old haunts and take on the All Blacks.

Exeter’s Ethan Roots has broken through as a bullish blindside presence, and could step in to start, heading back to his native New Zealand.