Ollie Chessum has been selected in the 2025 British & Irish Lions squad for the tour of Australia.
The Leicester Tigers and England forward was named in Andy Farrell's touring party at The O2 Arena on Thursday afternoon.
Chessum joins an illustrious list of Tigers players to be selected in Lions touring groups, two of the most recent of which are Chessum's clubmates Dan Cole and Ben Youngs.
Leicester Tigers players who have been British & Irish Lions tourists: John Jackett (1908), Fred Jackson (1908), Tom Smith (1908), Kenneth Wood (1910), Doug Prentice (1930), George Beamish (1930), Douglas Kendrew (1930), Bernard Gadney (1936), Phil Horrocks-Taylor (1959), Tony O'Reilly (1959), Rodger Arneil (1971), Alan Old (1974), Peter Wheeler (1977 & 1980), Clive Woodward (1980 & 1983), Paul Dodge (1980), Dusty Hare (1983), Dean Richards (1989 & 1993), Rory Underwood (1989 & 1993), Tony Underwood (1993), Martin Johnson (1993, 1997 & 2001), Graham Rowntree (1997 & 2005), Neil Back (1997 & 2001), Will Greenwood (1997), Austin Healey (1997 & 2001), Eric Miller (1997), Martin Corry (2001 & 2005), Dorian West (2001), Ben Kay (2005), Lewis Moody (2005), Geordan Murphy (2005), Ollie Smith (2005), Julian White (2005), Tom Croft (2009 & 2013), Harry Ellis (2009), Dan Cole (2013 & 2017), Geoff Parling (2013), Manu Tuilagi (2013), Ben Youngs (2013), Tom Youngs (2013)
The Lions schedule for the tour of Australia is:
- Friday, June 20 - Lions v Argentina, Dublin (Aviva Stadium)
- Saturday, June 28 - Lions v Western Force, Perth (Optus Stadium)
- Wednesday, July 2 - Lions v Queensland Reds, Brisbane (Suncorp Stadium)
- Saturday, July 5 - Lions v NSW Waratahs, Sydney (Allianz Stadium)
- Wednesday, July 9 - Lions v ACT Brumbies, Canberra (GIO Stadium)
- Saturday, July 12 - Lions v Invitational AU & NZ, Adelaide (Adelaide Oval)
- Saturday, July 19 - Lions v Australia, first Test, Brisbane (Suncorp Stadium)
- Tuesday, July 22 - Lions v Melbourne Rebels, Melbourne (Marvel Stadium)
- Saturday, July 26 - Lions v Australia, second Test, Melbourne (Melbourne Cricket Ground/MCG)
- Saturday, August 2 - Lions v Australia, third Test, Sydney (Accor Stadium)
All matches kick off at 11am BST except for the first game, in Dublin, which will kick off at 8pm BST.
