Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Ollie Lawrence: What lay behind England win over 'best team in the world'

By PA
Ollie Lawrence of England breaks past Jack Crowley of Ireland on the way to scoring his teams 1st try during the Guinness Six Nations 2024 match between England and Ireland at Twickenham Stadium on March 09, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Davidson - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

Ollie Lawrence has revealed that England’s stunning victory over Ireland was forged in the disappointment of their Calcutta Cup mauling at Murrayfield.

ADVERTISEMENT

A 23-22 triumph clinched through Marcus Smith’s last-gasp drop goal means England will contest the Guinness Six Nations title on ‘Super Saturday’ when they face France in Lyon.

Ireland remain in the driving seat but the standout win of Steve Borthwick’s 20 Tests in charge means their dream of completing back to back Grand Slams is over.

Video Spacer

‘Ireland’s true test will come in July’ – Boks Office | RPTV

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 1:42
Loaded: 19.55%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 1:42
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
    • en (Main), selected
    Video Spacer

    ‘Ireland’s true test will come in July’ – Boks Office | RPTV

    The Boks Office crew dispel the notion that Ireland are the best team in the world right now. Watch the full show exclusively on RugbyPass TV

    Watch now

    All facets of England’s game came together on a captivating afternoon at Twickenham where their skills and intent were matched by a steely resolve and Lawrence admits the display was fuelled by their error-strewn mauling by Scotland in round three.

    Possession

    Team Logo
    7%
    17%
    49%
    28%
    Team Logo
    21%
    21%
    38%
    20%
    Team Logo
    Team Logo
    66%
    Possession Last 10 min
    34%
    52%
    Possession
    48%

    “We’re happy with the win. Coming to Twickenham, back home, it was really important for us to bounce back after the Scotland game,” said the Bath centre, who scored the first of his side’s three tries.

    “We were really frustrated and disappointed that we didn’t put in our best performance up there. There was a lot of frustration in camp.

    “We left a lot out there so our mindset coming into this game was that we’re playing against the best team in the world here. This is our home ground, let’s take it to them and bring the physicality and let’s have a go.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    “Last week in training we worked a lot on our kick return and our counter attack, which is an important element of our game, but we didn’t really show it against Scotland.

    Ollie Lawrence
    Ollie Lawrence – PA

    “It was a shift in mindset – let’s shift the ball and have a go at these teams because we’ve got such good players but we need to utilise them.

    “We got the balance right against Ireland that’s the reason we got the result we did.”

    England were expected to be the latest victims of Ireland’s procession to becoming the first side since France in 1997 and 1998 to win successive Grand Slams, an outlook reflected in their startling odds of 4-1 underdogs.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Instead, they tore into Andy Farrell’s men from the start and never allowed their heads to drop even when James Lowe ran in what appeared to be a decisive 72nd-minute try for the champions.

    Related

    “There was a lot of external noise that we did touch on throughout the week. A lot of focus was on trying to shut that up, but also trying to ignore it as much as we can,” Lawrence said.

    “Because when you play well for England everyone is behind you and when you don’t get the result you want everyone can be on your back.

    “As a team we tried to stay as close as we could and ignore that. Playing at home, against Ireland, showed we’re heading in the right direction.

    “The title discussion will be outside noise. All we can do is go to France and try to win that game. That will be our focus for the week.

    “We will probably look back and rue that result against Scotland. Fine margins, we didn’t perform that day but we did today so it’s a step forward.”

    Related

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Classic Wallabies vs British & Irish Legends | First Match | Full Match Replay

    Did the Lions loosies get away with murder? And revisiting the Springboks lift | Whistle Watch

    The First Test, Visiting The Great Barrier Reef & Poetry with Pierre | Ep 6: The Ultimate Test

    KOKO Show | July 22nd | Full Throttle with Brisbane Test Review and Melbourne Preview

    New Zealand v South Africa | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

    USA vs England | Men's International | Full Match Replay

    France v Argentina | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

    Lions Share | Episode 4

    Trending on RugbyPass

    Comments

    4 Comments
    R
    Rugby 503 days ago

    What has changed? Felix is there, he knows Ireland

    He will leave his mark on that back line for sure

    England are improving, could they win the six nations next week?

    esp if Duhan and Finn get up and razzle and the team push back from loss to Italy?

    the week before Duhan ripped up England


    also….

    come on Italy

    Fatland you have to go mate, no good

    you have taken enough

    B
    Blanco 503 days ago

    First of all congrats to England well deserved win. To be clear to trolls: Ireland didn’t choke, throw it away or lose the game in the sense that they should have won. England went and won the game and Ireland forced them to fight to the win to the last second of the game.

    I think the respect shown between players and fans after was a commendation for European rugby.


    “Last week in training we worked a lot on our kick return and our counter attack, which is an important element of our game, but we didn’t really show it against Scotland.”


    Two tries from kick returns bore this out. I think they banked on disrupting Ireland's line out and pressuring Lowes clearances. The first try they pressured Lowes kick and made sure they loaded the left side on their retreat. Furbank gathered the kick on the right and sprinted cross field to where the numbers were. England scored with an overlap after one more phase.

    The other try was off an Irish lineout. To win they still needed to mess up Irelands ruck. They got plenty of bodies in there in accidentally on purpose awkward positions (for Ireland). Nothing illegal just good play.

    The last requirement was to take their chance to win if and when it came. Which they did.

    I think Borthwick used the first three games as more general training while working out coordinating it all and specific training for Ireland in the two weeks before that match.

    They wont have as much homework done for France but that match will be savage. Best rugby tournament in the world.

    R
    Rugby 503 days ago

    what was the dialogue between the two coaches near HT?

    co captains for saracens, played together for England, lions coaching.

    c
    craig 503 days ago

    “Inverted Commas”

    Giant Lazers!!!

    Load More Comments

    Join free and tell us what you really think!

    Sign up for free
    ADVERTISEMENT

    Latest Features

    Comments on RugbyPass

    J
    JW 1 hour ago
    Leicester Fainga'anuku denied All Blacks eligibility for TRC

    I don’t get that. I got the opposite, this was something Lester really really wanted to do. NZR is not going to stop him doing that by putting ridiculous money in front of him (noted you were only asking for fair money).


    I wouldn’t say this was a Mo’unga or Frizell situation where there talent only was unlocked after they signed abroad, when Schmidt and Ryan came in respectively. LF was on a good trajectory, and he just decided he has the perfect window of opportunity to go abroad while he’s not first choice, learn and live in France to come back better and have a good shot at the perfect age. I think he recongised that.


    Agreed that our rotation has been off the the last decade, players have not been moved on when they should, but I wouldn’t include Rieko in that discussion, though I would accept he is more of a marketing than performance signing.


    Also agree it is a strange condunrum that results from the misalligned seasons, where Lester is straight into NPC in the same season almost. When really the ‘start’ of his contract is next year. Is he even going to be on the payroll at the moment? Could it be used as a double dip to encourage players back, a ‘bonus international season’ of match fees.


    But they also don’t want them to become anymore common. So perhaps everything is fine? Like I was alluding to with Toko, they would need multiple markers of their own in Top 14 for them to be able to gauge off. As I’ve said in previous articles I’d be comfortable to expand sabbaticals to 2 in every position (yes a huge change), so that the was a core group of 30 of the top players all aligned with the ABs and overseas at any one time. This would ensure there are good markers to correlate levels of performance amongst everyone. This is a very similar setup/size to South Africa. It is like the AB modem in a wider organism, the vets are shipped off much earlier, and the core of next cycle is brought through. No missing out on the JGPs or Aki’s, no the Antonio’s or young Patrick Tuifua’s to france, keeping the Chandler Cunningham-South’s or Roots brothers, evan this Dubious guy from the French team was playing rugby here in NZ and could have stayed with a more ground up focus on bringing players through, not paying them much etc lol

    45 Go to comments
    TRENDING
    TRENDING Michael Hooper weighs in on Jac Morgan clear-out Michael Hooper weighs in on Jac Morgan clearout