Rising Star - In Ollie Lawrence, Worcester may have found England's next Manu Tualagi
It’s fair to say things aren’t looking too pretty for Worcester Warriors right now.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Comments on RugbyPass
He is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
2 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
1 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
2 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
9 Go to commentsThe Springboks tried going down the road of only picking home-based players and it was an unmitigated disaster in 2016 and 2017. Picking overseas-based players has been one of the main reason the Boks have done so well since 2018, not only because of the quality Rassie could call on, but because of the knowledge and experience those players brought into camp from England, France and Japan. With some of the big names playing abroad it also gave younger players in SA the chance to break through at franchise level. Would we have seen the emergence of a Ruan Nortje if RG and Lood were still at the Bulls? Not so sure. I understand why Jake would want to block players leaving since his job depends on good results but it’s an approach that would take Bok rugby back to the bad old days and no South African wants to see that.
9 Go to commentsExeter were thumped by 38 points. And they only had to hop on a train.
39 Go to commentsI am De Groot.
1 Go to commentsHad hoped you might write an article on this game, Nick. It’s a good one. Things have not gone as smoothly for ROG since beating Leinster last year at the Aviva in the CC final. LAR had the Top 14 Final won till Raymond Rhule missed a simple tackle on the excellent Ntamack, and Toulouse reaped the rewards of just staying in the fight till the death. Then the disruption of the RWC this season. LAR have not handled that well, but they were not alone, and we saw Pau heading the Top 14 table at one stage early season. I would think one of the reasons for the poor showing would have to be that the younger players coming through, and the more mature amongst the group outside the top 25/30, are not as strong as would be hoped for. I note that Romain Sazy retired at the end of last season. He had been with LAR since 2010, and was thus one of their foundation players when they were promoted to Top 14. Records show he ended up with 336 games played with LAR. That is some experience, some rock in the team. He has been replaced for the most part by Ultan Dillane. At 30, Dillane is not young, but given the chances, he may be a fair enough replacement for Sazy. But that won’be for more than a few years. I honestly know little of the pathways into the LAR setup from within France. I did read somewhere a couple of years ago that on the way up to Top 14, the club very successfully picked up players from the academies of other French teams who were not offered places by those teams. These guys were often great signings…can’t find the article right now, so can’t name any….but the Tadgh Beirne type players. So all in all, it will be interesting to see where the replacements for all the older players come from. Only Lleyd’s and Rhule from SA currently, both backs. So maybe a few SA forwards ?? By contrast, Leinster have a pretty clear line of good players coming through in the majority of positions. Props maybe a weak spot ? And they are very fleet footed and shrewd in appointing very good coaches. Or maybe it is also true that very good coaches do very well in the Leinster setup. So, Nick, I would fully concurr that “On the evidence of Saturday’s semi-final between the two clubs, the rebuild in the Bay of Biscay is going to take longer than it is on the east coast of Ireland”
11 Go to commentsWhat was the excuse for the other knockout blowouts then? Does the result not prove the Saints were just so much better? Wise call to put your eggs in one basket when you’ve got 2 comps simultaneously finishing.
39 Go to commentsReally hope Kuruvoli and his partner rock the Canes.
1 Go to commentsI wonder what impact Samson has had on their attack, as the team seems less prone to trundle it up the middle, take the tackle and then trundle it up again. I lost faith in the coach last year as the Rebelss looked like a 2nd/3rd rate South African team. I also disliked Gordon standing back, often ignored as the forward battle went on and on. Maybe its our Aussie way of not getting off our A***’s until the enemy is at the gate.
86 Go to commentsThanks for the write up. Great to see the Rebs winning, I am a little interested in how they will go against the remaining kiwi teams, I think they’ve only played Hurricanes and Highlanders but how great to see these players performing!! I also see Parling has a job beyond June 30! A good move by RA? Also how do you fix the Rebels previously scratchy defence?
86 Go to commentsbe smart - go black
14 Go to commentsNext week the Crusaders hopefully have Scott Barrett back. Will be great to have the captain back. Hopefully he will be the All Black captain as well.
12 Go to comments