'I would grab England chance' - Hassell-Collins

Ollie Hassell-Collins scored England A's opening try in their win against Ireland A in February

Leicester Tigers winger Ollie Hassell-Collins said he would be better equipped to play for England now than when he made his international breakthrough.

The 26-year-old earned two England caps during the Six Nations in February 2023 when he was a London Irish player.

He moved to Tigers that following summer and it is in his second season with the East Midlands club that he earned an international recall, having featured for England A last month.

He scored a try in the second-string national team's win against Ireland A in Bristol, adding to the 12 tries he has scored for Tigers across all competitions so far this season.

"My whole career has been me being a late bloomer, in terms of my maturity," Hassell-Collins told BBC Radio Leicester.

"I think, this season especially, I have just matured loads and I'm reading the game better."

Only Bristol Bears' Fiji international Kalaveti Ravouvou - with eight tries - has touched down more times than Hassell-Collins (seven) in the Premiership so far this season.

While his haul of 12 tries across all competitions is the best Hassell-Collins has managed in any single campaign to date, he is yet to match the 10 league tries he grabbed in back-to-back campaigns with Irish that earned him his first England caps.

"I'm scoring tries, which is helping my confidence," he said. "It's my job, and I'm doing my job and making line breaks and I feel like I've been defending well.

"It's all come together a bit."

And it is with that new-found belief that Hassell-Collins wants to step back on to the full international stage.

"If I was to go back in, then I think I'd be mature enough to go straight back in and adapt to what they are doing and show what I can do and get on the ball," he said.

"Last time I was probably a bit hesitant, and probably wasn't putting myself in the best light in terms of what I could do on the ball.

"If I got another opportunity, I'd be mature and confident enough to go in there and grab it with two hands."