Why does Ollie Hassell-Collins have his nails painted when he’s playing?
OLLIE HASSELL-COLLINS will be hoping his England side can pull off a win against Scotland today.
And he’ll be sporting his trademark painted nails for the big Six Nations Calcutta Cup clash at Twickenham.
Hassell-Collins, 24, made his RFU Championship debut for London Irish against Cornish Pirates on 27 October 2018.
He helped them to earn promotion to the Premiership in the 2019 season.
Hassell-Collins had joined the club’s academy aged 16 after previously being a youth player for his local club Newbury R.F.C.
He has represented England at under-18 and U20 level and England Sevens at the 2019 Paris Sevens.
And now he is due to make his senior international against Scotland in the Six Nations.
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Why does Ollie Hassell-Collins play with his nails painted?
Hassell-Collins is a fan of jewellery, and having his nails painted helps soften the blow of not being able to wear jewellery when he is on the pitch.
The rugby ace told England Rugby’s Instagram page: “I wear quite a lot of jewellery and obviously I can’t wear jewellery in games so I suppose it’s like my permanent jewellery.
“Also, I used to bite my nails so I was painting them clear. I decided to jazz them up a little bit.
“They’re usually white and green for Irish but obviously red and white for England.”
What happened at the Six Nations last year?
France secured the Grand Slam in 2022, winning all five of their games.
Ireland finished as runners-up – their sole defeat coming to champions France.
England won just two games – against Italy and Wales – and ended up finishing third in the table.