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'Ollie's physically blessed: his genetics are really good, he's a very explosive athlete with X-factor'
By Chris Jones
Alan Solomons has little time for England fans who portray Worcester centre Ollie Lawrence as a one-dimensional crash ball runner only equipped to bust open opposition defences through use of brute force.
Lawrence is just 21 and favourite to replace the injured Manu Tuilagi in the England No12 jersey and win his first cap against Italy in Rome on Saturday – a match that could see Eddie Jones’ team crowned 2020 Six Nations champions.
Worcester director of rugby Solomons believes Lawrence’s combination of natural power and pace marks him out as an outstanding talent with a full range of rugby skills that will allow him to excel at Test rugby, not a one-trick pony who can only play one way.
Solomons told RugbyPass: “Ollie is physically blessed, his genetics are really good, he is a very explosive athlete with X-factor. Ollie also has good footwork and an off-loading game. He runs very good hard lines.
“If he gets picked at twelve he will handle that even though the majority of his games have been at 13 for us. He has played with experienced midfielders like Francois Venter (South Africa) and Ashley Beck (Wales) and they have both played international rugby."
To further enhance his view, Solomons, who worked alongside Heyneke Meyer with the Springboks, recalled a European match between Worcester and Stade Francais from 2018. “Heyneke was in charge of Stade and saw Ollie deliver an outstanding performance against his team.
"He told me afterwards: 'This guy is incredible.' If he does get his chance in Rome, Ollie will be outside Owen Farrell, who I rate as the best No10 in the world, and alongside Henry Slade, who is playing exceptional rugby.”
The former Bromsgrove School student graduated from the academy into the senior squad at Sixways, signing a contract extension in June 2020. Having represented England U18s, Lawrence was promoted to the England U20s aged just 18 and played one game in the 2018 age-grade Six Nations before receiving a call-up to train with Jones' senior squad came that summer while he was still at school.
Lawrence’s father Michael played on the wing for Moseley and was the reason his son started playing tag rugby at the club, although his all-round sporting prowess saw him involved with the Aston Villa and Birmingham City academies as a 10-year-old.
Rugby, though, became his passion with international centres Sonny Bill Williams, Tuilagi and Ma’a Nonu the players he admired. Solomons added: “Besides the power, Ollie also has pace and is very dynamic and I don’t think age is a factor because he has a number of games under his belt I have full confidence in him.”
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Latest Comments
The boy needs to bulk up if wants to play 10 or 11 to handle those hits, otherwise he could always make a brilliant reserve for the wings if he stays away from the stretcher.
Go to commentsIn another recent article I tried to argue for a few key concept changes for EPCR which I think could light the game up in the North.
First, I can't remember who pointed out the obvious elephant in the room (a SA'n poster?), it's a terrible time to play rugby in the NH, and especially your pinnacle tournament. It's been terrible watching with seemingly all the games I wanted to watch being in the dark, hardly able to see what was going on. The Aviva was the only stadium I saw that had lights that could handle the miserable rain. If the global appeal is there, they could do a lot better having day games.
They other primary idea I thuoght would benefit EPCR most, was more content. The Prem could do with it and the Top14 could do with something more important than their own league, so they aren't under so much pressure to sell games. The quality over quantity approach.
Trim it down to two 16 team EPCR competitions, and introduce a third for playing amongst the T2 sides, or the bottom clubs in each league should simply be working on being better during the EPCR.
Champions Cup is made up of league best 15 teams, + 1, the Challenge Cup winner. Without a reason not to, I'd distribute it evenly based on each leauge, dividing into thirds and rounded up, 6 URC 5 Top14 4 English. Each winner (all four) is #1 rank and I'd have a seeding round or two for the other 12 to determine their own brackets for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I'd then hold a 6 game pool, home and away, with consecutive of each for those games that involve SA'n teams. Preferrably I'd have a regional thing were all SA'n teams were in the same pool but that's a bit complex for this simple idea.
That pool round further finalises the seeding for knockout round of 16. So #1 pool has essentially duked it out for finals seeding already (better venue planning), and to see who they go up against 16, 15,etc etc. Actually I think I might prefer a single pool round for seeding, and introduce the home and away for Ro16, quarters, and semis (stuffs up venue hire). General idea to produce the most competitive matches possible until the random knockout phase, and fix the random lottery of which two teams get ranked higher after pool play, and also keep the system identical for the Challenge Cup so everthing is succinct. Top T2 side promoted from last year to make 16 in Challenge Cup
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