England captain Owen Farrell was full of praise for centre Ollie Lawrence after his showing in their Six Nations win over Italy at Twickenham.
Lawrence was in fine form on a rare start for the Red Rose as he made 83 metres from 11 carries, causing the Azzurri several problems in the 31-14 result.
It was a change of style from England in Round Two as they ditched the Marcus Smith-Farrell combination, with the hard-running Lawrence preferred.
Praise for centre Lawrence
And it seems to have been a success as Farrell was complimentary of the centre, who was made redundant by former club Worcester earlier this season.
“Ollie did really well, he played the way he’s been playing for his club – destructive,” said Farrell, who was in his club position of fly-half on Sunday.
“I remember playing against him at the start of the season for Saracens at our place, and he was holding the ball in one hand and batting everyone off like he did against Italy.
“It was good to see him break the line against Italy and get us on the front foot.”
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There were also strong shifts from the likes of Jack Willis and Alex Dombrandt, the latter admitting he’s hoping for a good run of games for England.
“I’ve been working hard in training and really trying to improve my all-round game, so to have that backing from Steve is massively important,” Dombrandt said.
“I try to repay that on the training ground, preparing the team well, and hopefully, on game day, putting in good performances.
Keen to get into a rhythm
“The start of the season for me personally was a bit frustrating because of a knee injury. Then I came back for a couple of games but tore my hamstring.
“I feel like I play my best rugby when I get into a rhythm of games, and I feel like I’m starting to play games consistently, which is always a good thing for me.
“But I’m still looking to improve my all-round game and just keep going.”