England star Ollie Lawrence admits the financial turmoil at Worcester Warriors inspired a fresh start and a return to the Red Rose jersey.
Lawrence was outstanding in the first centre channel for England on Saturday, providing an attractive solution to the team’s concerns at 12.
In a magnificent performance, the 23-year-old made 83 metres and beat eight defenders – the most by an English centre in a Six Nations game.
Needed a change
The robust carrier was forced to move to Bath after Worcester went into administration and has shone under Johann van Graan in that set-up after a year of injuries ruined his 2021-2022 campaign.
Lawrence was taken aback by what happened with Worcester but admitted that change did him good.
“My injuries have probably one of the biggest things. Re-injuring is obviously frustrating,” Lawrence said.
“But finding out what had happened to Worcester, knowing that we were going into administration, was pretty tough to take.
“I had been there since I was 15 so it’s always been a part of my life and my family’s. That was hard to take, to lose out on a lot of different friendships and stuff. We’ve all had to go in our different directions.
“Off the back of it, I can’t say that it wasn’t the best thing for me because I think I needed the change. It took me leaving Worcester to realise that.
“But I’ve grown up a lot. I’ve had to mature. It’s been a whirlwind over the last six months but I have no regrets so far. Sometimes these things need to happen for you to go into a different position.”
Lawrence ran away with the man-of-the-match award against Italy after head coach Steve Borthwick told him to “kick the front door down.”
“Kick the front door down”
“Steve put my role against Italy as, ‘you’ve got to kick the front door down’. You can understand what he means by that!” Lawrence said.
“My job is to be physical both sides of the ball and support the other players around me and that is what I tried to do – get us over the gainline and get quick ball.
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“Owen Farrell has been really good for me over the last two weeks in making sure that I know what I’m doing and he gave me the right balls, so just fed off him.
“Henry outside me is an experienced player – both of them are – so I am happy to be stuck in the middle of them.
“I wanted to get back to playing like how I used to and enjoying it again. I lost the enjoyment a bit because of the injury. When I enjoy my rugby, I usually play well off the back of it.”
England’s next clash is on February 25 against Wales, who are reportedly considering striking for the game amid struggles within the Welsh Rugby Union.