Ollie Hassell-Collins: ‘I don’t expect every rugby player will be painting their nails but it’s the way I am’

I t is not a subject often aired in international men’s rugby union but, hey, it is 2023, baby. So here goes: can nail polish improve athletic performance? In the view of Ollie Hassell-Collins, about to win his second cap for England, there is no doubt about it. “Absolutely,” he murmurs as we both gaze down at his red and white painted fingernails. “Look good, feel good, play good. I’m a strong believer in it.”

Good on the personable London Irish wing for having the courage of his convictions. It is not so long ago that England dressing rooms were full of unobtrusive black boots and keep-your-head-down reticence. Hassell-Collins, with his patriotic nail art and Harry Potter-loving snitch tattoo on his arm, is living, breathing proof of the new orthodoxy.

The more time you spend with the shyly endearing, idiosyncratic 24-year-old, the more you begin to wonder if he and his girlfriend Eloise, a legal secretary, are colourfully pointing the way ahead for millions of diffident young athletes across all sports. Hassell-Collins has been an England hopeful for some time but, coincidence or not, it is only since he pledged to be truer to himself that his big break has arrived.

It helps, of course, that he also has the physical attributes to be a standout Test player. Tall, strong, defensively hard-working and the possessor of a powerful left boot, it is definitely in England’s interests to give him the ball. Gradually, though, he is realising that his on-field mindset is inextricably tied to his personal self-image. “If I go out on the pitch feeling like I look the part it gives me confidence,” he says simply. “I feel that when I get the ball I can do anything.”

Hence the nails. When he first mentioned it to Eloise the