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Jones reject Ollie Lawrence explains why he fits Borthwick's England
Ollie Lawrence has explained why he feels a very different player with England under Steve Borthwick than under Eddie Jones, the previous head coach. The 23-year-old encountered teething trouble when first introduced to international level in the 2020/21 season, suggesting that Jones had taken a dislike to him when he first went into camp and he wasn’t able to shake off that negative first impression until it was too late.
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Having been out of the reckoning for the last year and a half of the Jones reign, Lawrence has now returned to the England fold under new head coach Borthwick and has more than found his feet on this occasion.
A used replacement in the opening-round loss to Scotland, Lawrence was given a start at outside centre versus Italy in round two and went on to flourish in last Saturday’s round three match away to Wales, scoring the win-sealing try with five minutes remaining at the Principality Stadium.
Lawrence has now taken time to reflect on his successful international return, explaining why playing for England feels so much better under Borthwick than it did under Jones. Appearing on the latest episode of RugbyPass Offload, the centre said: “There are people that love Eddie and there are people that have the opposite opinion. I don’t think he is a bad bloke at all.
“I must have given an impression of myself when I first went into camp that probably didn’t suit the way he wants his players to be and that was something I couldn’t change because I wasn’t in the squad long enough for him to see a different side to me.
“Towards the end of the summer of ’21, he saw a change in me and what he was seeing before that he didn’t like clearly wasn’t there anymore, but then I got injured and wasn’t really in the mix. To have Steve in camp has been a breath of fresh air for the whole team. He is very honest and gives you his opinion and will push you to work harder and to fight for the team and that is the main thing.
“There is a lot of respect for both Eddie and for Steve but for me, so far my relationship with Steve has been really good and he had got the best out of me and hopefully there is more to come with that.”
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Asked to elaborate on the key differences between England under Borthwick compared to what previously existed under Jones, Lawrence continued: “There are a lot of differences between the two coaches and different styles but the main thing for me is the environment.
“I’m not going to speak on behalf of other people, but personally I felt like I could be myself more in this England setup than Eddie’s team. I wouldn’t say I felt restricted but I would say I was more on edge when Eddie was there. I don’t know why that is. Maybe just the way he is as a coach and how he decides to coach and how he likes his environment to be is different to Steve.
“But I have got nothing but huge respect for Steve for how he has managed to come in and get this team so tight already and I have managed to feel like I can free myself up and play to my best because I don’t have the weight on my shoulders feeling stressed at all.
“I’m just focusing on getting better and training hard which will hopefully get you in selection…. In terms of the training and stuff, I definitely feel a lot more comfortable in camp and I am really enjoying being around this squad and building as a team.”
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Jones is now head coach of the Wallabies, who could potentially face England in a World Cup quarter-final next October in Marseille if the pool results go a certain way. What does Lawrence make of that possible showdown with his old England boss?
“We could potentially face them but I’d just be happy with the win. But it would be a silver lining in the background to have got one over. The main thing for this team, I don’t think we have any personal agendas with any players or teams.
“We just want to win as a team no matter the coach or the players against us. But everyone I am sure will have their own individual reasons for wanting to win that game especially.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments