Ollie Lawrence insists Eddie Jones’ tough love shaped him into the player he has become as England’s former head coach prepares for his Allianz Stadium return with Japan.
Jones gave Lawrence his debut as a 21-year-old in 2021 but months later he offered an unflattering appraisal of the barnstorming centre in his book ‘Leadership: Lessons from my Life in Rugby’.
“He’s still a kid, only 21, but the way that some of the media raves about him you would think he’s already assured of becoming one of the best players in the world,” Jones wrote.
“He might do that, one day, but his attitude was not hungry or disciplined enough.”
Lawrence was frozen out in the last year and a half of Jones’ reign but once the Australian was sacked, his international career was revived by Steve Borthwick.
Under Borthwick, the hard running Bath threequarter has been an ever-present and he is now cemented in his choice midfield alongside Henry Slade.
Jones faces England at Twickenham for the first time since his departure amid claims from Danny Care that he is a “despot” who oversaw a “toxic” environment, but Lawrence has come to appreciate his management style.
“I’ll always be grateful to Eddie because he gave me my first England cap. He’s one of those coaches, as we all know, that likes to challenge players,” Lawrence said.
“There was a point in my career where he challenged me on my attitude and whether I was working hard enough to warrant being in the squad and whether I was pushing myself enough in training.
“At the time you can look at it and be frustrated and be ‘oh, the boss isn’t on my side here’. Back then I was probably a bit annoyed. I was probably like ‘why is he on my case so much, why is he on my case?’.
“But now I look back three or four years on and think that was probably the best thing that I needed then.
“I’d come into an England squad at a young age, things had gone well for me at Worcester and then you’re on the international stage and you’re with all these players so there’s another level you have to raise your game to.
“Maybe at the time I didn’t see that but looking back I can definitely see why he may have thought that I wasn’t pushing myself as much as I needed to. Hopefully that lesson back then has helped me to be where I am now.”
Tom Curry returns for the clash with Japan but Immanuel Feyi-Waboso has lost his own race to be fit for the climax to the Autumn Nations Series.
Both players were concussed in the 42-37 defeat by Australia in the second match of the series, ruling them out of Saturday’s 29-20 loss to South Africa.
While Curry has completed the graduated return to play protocols, Feyi-Waboso remains unavailable and is not present in the 36-man training squad named by Borthwick.
Curry replaces Charlie Ewels in the group that assembled at England’s Surrey training base on Tuesday with Cadan Murley called up as a replacement for Elliot Daly, who is struggling with an unspecified injury.