Worcester Warriors' Ollie Lawrence puts down noticeable marker in loss to Gloucester
Worcester Warriors are not a glamourous team and if your hope is to see them as such, you are likely to remain disappointed for the foreseeable future.
They do not have the history of some of the more prestigious clubs nor have they been consistently challenging in the upper echelons of the Gallagher Premiership. Worcester, though a fine place to live, lacks the cosmopolitan lure of London, the vibrancy of Newcastle or Leicester, or the array of attractions on offer in places such as Bath and Exeter.
For the majority of the past 10 or so years, Worcester Warriors have been seen as a club that produces talent, but ultimately ends up losing it. A club that is a stopping gap in a player’s career, rather than a sought-after destination for rugby’s biggest free agents.
Director of Rugby Alan Solomons is doing his best to address and reverse that trend, though it is no overnight project.
Club academy product Ted Hill has taken on the captaincy at 21 years of age and committed his future to the side. He has been joined by new signing Billy Searle, a player Solomons will hope that he can build around at the crucial 10 position for a number of years, as well as the returning Matt Kvesic. The likes of Nic Schonert and Francois Hougaard have added quality in recent years, whilst Chris Pennell, when he eventually hangs up his boots, will go down as one of the best to ever grace Sixways Stadium.
It is clearly not a club without talented players, though it is also true that Worcester are not a side currently setting the world alight. If there were a word to describe the side, you would not go too far wrong with ‘workmanlike’, and that is no criticism.
Solomons is attempting to instil a resilience and toughness to Worcester that has been missing in recent years and that is embodied by the uncompromising nature of Hill, who did not look out of place leading his boyhood club on Saturday against Gloucester, not least so when he was diving over for a try in the first minute of the game.
A moment of madness in the first half from Melani Nanai that saw the Samoan wing red carded for a shoulder charge to the head of Jonny May made the game an uphill battle for Worcester and one that they were unlikely to get too much from, though that took none of the lacquer off of Hill’s full-time captaincy debut.
Hard edges will keep you in games and resilience will make you competitive, but to win games and keep on winning them, sometimes you need something a bit special on top of that. This is where Hill’s partner in crime, Ollie Lawrence, comes in.
Saturday’s loss to Gloucester was a potent reminder of what a complete rugby player Lawrence is becoming and there would have been plenty for England head coach Eddie Jones to glean from the young centre’s performance.
Lawrence has the attacking talent through his pace, footwork and ability to beat his man one-on-one to provide that spark and incision that Worcester need to trouble opposition defences. That has been an apparent part of his game ever since he was dominating in the Bromsgrove 1st XV at schoolboy level.
It is in the areas around this where Lawrence’s development is most notable, as he rounds out the rough edges of his skill set.
There was a confidence in his kicking game on Saturday afternoon, ranging from a booming pressure reliver inside his own 22, to the well-weighted through-ball off the inside of his foot to almost send Worcester in for their second try of the game. It was unrecognisable from the 19-year-old who would consistently take on any and everyone in front of him.
Defensively, it was always going to be a challenge for Lawrence once Nanai left the field, leaving an abundance of space on the pitch for the outside centre to defend. Nevertheless, that did not stop him lining up Lewis Ludlow and driving him back in the tackle, showing his enviable pound-for-pound power. He also stayed in his lane and prevented a pass or offload to the support when James Woodward beat the blitz of Francois Venter. He worked hard on the scramble and marshalled the space well when Danny Cipriani put the ball through the hands, rather than with the boot.
As a ball-carrier, he reinforced his ability to run back against the grain and hit those incisive lines against an over-pursuing drift defence. His proclivity for standing up a defender and burning them on the outside arc is already well-known. As a result, you could see the respect that the Gloucester defence were having to pay him, as one dummy line back inside caught the attention of multiple defenders, saw at least two of them plant their feet in response, and thus space was created outside for his teammates.
He is winning more of his collisions in both defence and attack, too. The movement of his feet in contact is noticeable, as he no longer relies on the searing pace and ability to instantaneously break a tackle that set him apart at the age-grade levels.
This wasn’t the sort of Gloucester return Jonny May was expecting https://t.co/GUwhaMupbW
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 15, 2020
Realistically, Lawrence is not yet taking the place of Manu Tuilagi or Henry Slade in the England team, but he is certainly jockeying for position with the likes of Joe Marchant, who impressed himself on Friday evening, Jonathan Joseph and Fraser Dingwall to be that next man up and on the cusp of the matchday 23.
His involvements with Worcester and opportunities to catch the eye should only continue to grow, as he is now showing that he has those defensive, game management and decision-making skills to complement the undeniable attacking talent at his disposal.
Worcester have an enviable duo in Lawrence and Hill to build around moving forward and though their march toward challenging at the top of the table is still a way off, the growth of this pair should be celebrated by any and all rugby fans who want to see a more competitive Premiership, from top to bottom.
Comments on RugbyPass
This 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.
16 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.
7 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.
16 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?
4 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.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
16 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
16 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
16 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
16 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
16 Go to comments