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Rising Star - In Ollie Lawrence, Worcester may have found England's next Manu Tualagi

Ollie Lawrence

It’s fair to say things aren’t looking too pretty for Worcester Warriors right now.

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In addition to well-publicised financial issues that has sent the club searching for investment, the side are currently rooted to the bottom of the Premiership table and have been thrust into a relegation battle with recently-promoted London Irish.

With seven losses from their opening seven games, it has been an ominous start to the season for Worcester, but if there is a silver lining to their current travails, it is that their academy has quietly been producing a host of talented players that could go on to form the foundation of a more competitive side in the seasons to come.

Huw Taylor, Jamie Shillcock, Will Butler, Tom Dodd and Ted Hill have all been catching the eye at various levels over the last couple of seasons, whilst hooker Jack Singleton has already made his England bow against the Barbarians, capitalising on Jamie George’s absence with the British and Irish Lions in the summer and touring Argentina as Dylan Hartley’s deputy.

The next name to add to this list could well be Ollie Lawrence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGnIJ-QIhJk

The young centre represented England U17s last season and is currently in the last year of his schooling at Bromsgrove, but he has already made his senior bow for Worcester, when he came off the bench in their Anglo-Welsh Cup fixture with Sale Sharks in the opening round of the competition.

He replaced Max Stelling in the 58th minute of the match at Sixways and proceeded to get his senior Warriors career off to a dream start, crossing for a try just minutes later, before setting up teammate Tom Howe to score in the last minute of the game.

His assist for Howe to score was particularly impressive, with Lawrence taking and passing the ball in one swift motion, even as he was being lined up for a big hit by a Sale defender. For an 18-year-old on debut, it was an extremely impressive piece of skill and composure.

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The dream debut was soured by Worcester ultimately falling to a 24-21 defeat to Sale, but it was a cameo from Lawrence which should have Worcester and England fans alike salivating at his prospects.

For some time now, England’s age-grades and the Premiership academies have been producing talented centres at a rate of knots. From Henry Slade to Joe Marchant, Nick Tompkins to Ollie Devoto and current prospects like Worcester’s Butler and Harlequins’ Gabriel Ibitoye, many of these centres have fallen into two midfield stereotypes.

You have the secondary playmakers, such as Slade and Devoto, who bring a fly-half’s skill set to the 12 or 13 jersey, and you have the quick-stepping, turn-of-pace men, such as Marchant and Tompkins, who can hurt teams in the open space of the wider channels with devastating outside breaks.

They are the perfect deputies for the likes of Owen Farrell and Jonathan Joseph in the England midfield, capable of replicating – to a good standard –  what those incumbents have been doing for Eddie Jones over the last two years.

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What England have failed to produce with such proclivity is the hard-running, physical centre who can break the gain line in the tighter confines and turn a broken tackle into a big gain or a try. From Mike Tindall to Jamie Noon and Brad Barritt to Manu Tuilagi, it was a staple of English midfields for over 10 years.

We are right to heap praise on the midfield partnership of Farrell and Joseph, for it has added dimensions of decision-making, speed of thought and foot and clinical finishing that has not always been there, but there is value to be found in the midfield heavy-hitters.

Martin Johnson, Stuart Lancaster and Jones have all included Tuilagi in their squads as soon as they were able, whether that be giving him his debut and first tastes of international rugby, or bringing him back into the fold as soon as possible after he has recovered from injury or served a suspension.

As for Ben Te’o, he has provided England with punch up the middle in the games when he has come off the bench, something which has been particularly valuable in the games when England’s forwards have not been in their best carrying form, something which often shows up when Billy Vunipola is unavailable.

With Tuilagi and Te’o both currently injured and unavailable for England this autumn, the cupboard, which is fit to bursting in many other positions, has looked particularly bare in this area.

Since Tuilagi came through the age-grades, only really London Irish’s Johnny Williams and Exeter’s Sam Hill have been of a similar mould. Williams is still developing, not to mention the subject of interest from Ireland and Wales – the two other nations that he is eligible to represent – whilst Hill has fallen slightly out of favour at Exeter following the arrival of Devoto, meaning that there is no clear backup to Tuilagi or Te’o as stands.

This is where Lawrence – in a year or two’s time – could come in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGMCuw2S6eQ

He is incredibly physical for his age, blending speed and strength into a potent mix of power. Combined with a low centre of gravity, this makes him a remarkably tough player for defenders to bring down and like Tuilagi, he has that burst of speed to get away from defences when he breaks a tackle or makes a tackler miss.

Lawrence isn’t a head-down kind of runner, either.

He has the vision to exploit holes and awareness to find support runners, rather than relentlessly taking contact, something which some England backs in years gone by have been guilty of. He has the hands and passing skills to be part of a free-flowing back line eager to put quick width on the ball and he can thrive in that role, but he has the power to generate front-foot ball if the defensive line is doing a good stifling job, whether that be with their line speed or contact area work.

When teams are able to regularly break that gain line and run onto the ball, building momentum as they do and denying defences the opportunity to regroup, rugby is made to look a remarkably easy sport. It’s in this facet where dual-threat players like Lawrence can come into their own.

It is important to remember that Lawrence is still only an U18 player and nothing is carved in stone at this point in a player’s career, but his debut appearance for Worcester certainly went a long way towards reinforcing his credentials to play at a higher level.

There should be plenty more opportunities to see Lawrence this season, with the centre likely to feature further in the Anglo-Welsh Cup and A League, as well as for Worcester U18s once the new year arrives. He was also involved in the England U18s Development Camp last month and could form an exciting partnership with Cameron Redpath at that level this year, although Wasps’ Sam Spink will be pushing hard for inclusion, too.

It’s early days but it is worth putting Lawrence on your radar now. He has all the raw attributes required to be a special player at the next level and as long as he remains focused and keeps improving, there is no reason to fear that he won’t realise his considerable potential.

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f
fl 1 hour ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

I ultimately don’t care who the best club team in the world is, so yeah, lets agree to disagree on that.


I would appreciate clarity on a couple of things though:

Where did I contradict myself?

Saying “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” is entirely compatible with ranking a team as the best - over an extended period - when they have won more games and made more finals than other comparable teams. It would be contradictory for me to say “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” and then completely ignore Leinster record of winning games and making finals.


“You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself.”

What you said (that I think trophies matter) is true, in that I said “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.”. Do you understand that Leinster won more games and made more finals than any other (URC-based) team did under the period under consideration?


“Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.”

I really don’t understand why you would think that this is irrelevant. You seem to be saying that winning trophies is the only thing that matters when assessing who is the best, but doesn’t matter at all when assessing who is 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.


“What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.”

Well then we’ve just been talking at cross purposes. In that my position (that Leinster were the best team overall in 2022-2024) was pretty clear, and you just decided to respond to a different point (whether Leinster were the best team individually in particular years) essentially making the entire discussion completely pointless. I guess if you think that trophies are the only thing that matters then it makes sense to see the season as an individual event that culminates in a trophy (or not), whereas because I believe that trophies matter a lot, but that so does winning matches and making finals, it makes it easier for me to consider quality over an extended period.

24 Go to comments
M
MT 2 hours ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

As I said in one of my first replies to you - we can agree to disagree. If you want to leave it no problem. I completely disagree with your ranking of Leinster as the best team in the world. Now you have said you will change it if Bordeaux win the Top 14. Well as Leinster themselves prioritise the CC over the URC and Bordeaux won the CC, how are they not ranked higher by you? Are Leinster one of the best teams, yeah - never said they weren’t. But not the very best team, as the very best team have trophies to show for their seasons. They matter when you discuss the very best.


You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself. Just so we are clear, you said you would too on my statement that I would rather be a fan of a team that won a trophy over the three seasons, but end the paragraph saying you would rather be a fan of the team that won the most matches but didn’t win a trophy. Both cant be true. Thats one example of where you contradict yourself.


Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.


What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.

24 Go to comments
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