England star defends Eddie Jones after tough ‘lessons’ in early Test career
England centre Ollie Lawrence celebrates after scoring a try against Ireland.
England star Ollie Lawrence has said he will ‘always be grateful’ for the tough ‘lessons’ shown to him by former head coach Eddie Jones during his early Test career.
Lawrence was in and out of the wider England squad under Jones – who returns to face England at Twickenham for the first time since his sacking in 2022 – but the Australian coach handed the then Worcester Warriors youngster his Test debut.
“He likes to challenge players”
Speaking ahead of a dramatic reunion with former boss Jones, the Bath centre said the former boss ‘likes to challenge players’, and revealed the key area he was questioned on when first drafted into camp.
“I’ll always be grateful to Eddie, he gave me my first England cap,” said Lawrence. “He likes to challenge players.”
“He challenged me on my attitude, whether I was working hard enough to be in the squad and whether I was pushing myself enough in training.”
“At the time you can look at it and be frustrated, but now I look back on it and think that was probably the best thing that I needed then.”
After impressing in the Premiership for Worcester Warriors and at England age group level, Lawrence was called into the senior squad by Jones for a tour of South Africa in 2018. He also spent time with the senior squad in 2020 where he made his debut off the bench against Italy in the Six Nations and later featured in the Autumn Nations Series as well.
“I’d come into an England squad at a young age,” the powerful back continued. “Things had gone well for me at Worcester and then you are on the international stage with all of these players, it’s another level you have to raise your game to.”
“At the time, I didn’t see that, but looking back I can definitely see why he thought I wasn’t pushing myself as much as I needed to. Hopefully, that lesson has helped me to be where I am now.”
Despite making his debut under the Australian, Lawrence was certainly not a regular feature in Jones’ starting XV, however, since Steve Borthwick has taken the reigns Lawrence has been his go-to man and is a mainstay in the England midfield alongside Henry Slade.
At the time of writing, the back has won 30 caps to his name.
