The Ollie Lawrence puzzle confronting England this autumn

Competition is fierce in England’s midfield ahead of the match against Australia BATH — As Ollie Lawrence strives to be a permanent fixture in the England midfield, he has made a powerful response to a savage and psychologically testing injury this year, with decent early form this season. His club Bath’s head coach Johann van Graan said after the Premiership champions’ 40-15 thrashing of Bristol Bears on Saturday: “I think there’s loads left in him.” The question is where do England see Lawrence fitting in, as they get ready for their autumn series starting against Australia on 1 November? Lawrence had his participation in Bath’s winning Premiership final last season, and an almost certain place on the subsequent British & Irish Lions tour, ruined by a snapped Achilles tendon in March.

The 26-year-old fought back to make his return well ahead of schedule in this season’s Prem opener at Harlequins in September, and he has started each of Bath’s four wins, while being rested for the loss at Leicester last week. He joined Bath from the defunct Worcester Warriors in 2022 and regenerated an England career that had stalled as a novice under then head coach Eddie Jones. Even so, that experience, and an ankle injury in 2022, and the ongoing rotation of Owen Farrell, George Ford, Marcus Smith and Fin Smith at fly-half, and the trust placed in centres Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade, left a lingering doubt over Lawrence – was he definitely the man to be regular starter?

Even after 35 caps for Lawrence now, there is still a debate to be had. The newly-published autobiography by Andy Farrell includes a reminder of how England tried Farrell himself at No 12 at the 2007 World Cup and Sam Burgess at the 2015 edition. They were big No 12s designed to fix opposition players in attack, and hit hard in defence. A different approach is to deploy greatest heft one place out, in the No13 channel.