England back row Ollie Chessum says the fear of being chased down by Louis Bielle-Biarrey, France’s free-scoring, high-speed wing, spooked him as he went in for a 60m intercept try in England’s 48-46 Six Nations defeat on Saturday.
Chessum, who scored two tries, set up a third and was England’s star performer in Paris, admitted he had “copped a lot of stick” for not scoring closer to the posts as he ran in unopposed in the 51st minute.
Fly-half Fin Smith missed the subsequent conversion from out near the left-hand 10m line and England ultimately came up just short in a 94-point epic.
“I was adamant that there was a red scrum out lurking in the background that was going to bring me down,” said Chessum.
“So I just pinned my ears back and hoped that no-one managed to grab on to my coattails and bring me to the floor.
“I’ve copped a lot of stick, I think, for not heading toward the posts. My brother’s sent me a few things, but it was unfamiliar territory for me to be in a line-break situation like that.
“I’m sure Fin would have thanked me for it being a bit closer, but I can’t turn back the clock now.”
Bielle-Biarrey, who scored four tries in France’s win, was in close attendance as Chessum picked off Matthieu Jalibert’s pass on his own 10m line, but neither he, Jalibert or full-back Thomas Ramos could tun and catch the Leicester man before the line.
Chessum’s score came as no surprise to Tigers’ coach Geoff Parling, who revealed that the 25-year-old’s top sprint speed has been clocked at 9.3 metres per second.
“As soon as he got the intercept I knew he was going to score because I know how fast he is,” said Parling.
“He moves very well for a big man.
“I thought he was exceptional against France – he kept trying to drive the team forward and that is what he does for us too.”
Chessum said England’s final-round display was an improvement but could not mask a miserable Six Nations campaign that returned only one victory from five matches and led to a fifth-place finish.
“It was a frustrating few weeks, there’s no hiding the disappointment and frustration,” he said.
“For the middle of those three weeks [defeats against Scotland, Ireland and Italy], we were nowhere near where we wanted to be and that shows in the table.
“I don’t know about it being a standard-setter, but I think [the France performance] just felt more like us and the way we wanted to play.
“It felt like the way we have played for the majority of last year.
“I suppose, from our perspective, we’d want to try and bottle that feeling as much as possible.”
Chessum landed back at London Heathrow from Paris on Sunday lunchtime and he and Leicester team-mate Jack van Poortvliet took a taxi straight to Mattioli Woods Welford Road to catch the end of Tigers’ 66-14 victory over Leicester in the Prem Rugby Cup final.