To collect his award as the Premiership’s player of the season, Ollie Lawrence had to leave Bath’s end-of-season bash in Lisbon on Tuesday. Two delayed flights later, plus a mad dash from Gatwick to central London, and Lawrence made it with moments to spare. Suffice it to say that tortuous journey is small fry compared to that which he has been on this season.
Lawrence was a worthy winner of the award for the manner in which he has performed on the pitch, firstly for Worcester despite their slide into the abyss, then for Bath who offered him, as he puts it, “a second chance”. He speaks of playing with a “desperation” to make the most of the lifeline afforded to him at the Rec and that was evident in his performances from the word go – bursting tackles and hitting rucks with such alacrity you could not help but take note. He is a worthy winner for how he handled himself off the field too, taking in a Worcester academy player who had been made homeless, addressing the Warriors’ plight in public with passion and resilience in equal measure.
The 23-year-old centre has always had an ability to break tackles and though Eddie Jones’s claim in his book that Lawrence’s “attitude was not hungry or disciplined enough” has always felt staggeringly harsh, a dubious attempt at motivation even, there can be no doubting his desire now.
“I was given an opportunity and I couldn’t not take it,” said Lawrence, who was among the Bath try-scorers last weekend when a thumping win over Saracens secured a place in next season’s Champions Cup. “That desperation, knowing that I could have not had a job, some of my best mates still don’t now, to be here now is pretty special.
“I felt like it gave me a second chance, looking at my career and looking at what I wanted to do with it. The hunger and the motivation for me was that I want to be one of the best players in this country and this league. I tried to do it this season, some people agree, some disagree but as long as I keep striving to keep getting better I’ll be happy with that.”
Not long after Jones reached his questionable conclusions – in reality Lawrence struggled to make an impact in his first few caps because England could not get him the ball – Lawrence suffered a debilitating calf injury. Then came Worcester’s death spiral. All things considered, it is a lot for someone still in the early stages of their career.
“My family are people that I’m very close with but sometimes they don’t always have an understanding of the rugby culture,” says Lawrence. “Anthony Watson was one of the players … we had a lot of conversations during those times, obviously he knew how tough it was for me, he’s been through similar injuries and similar struggles as well and he was a real support for me. I’ll always be grateful for that.
“When I’d talk to my friends from university about it and say: ‘I’m going to be out of a job, I don’t know what I’m going to do,’ that’s exactly how they live their lives day to day. It made me realise that I’m so fortunate to do what I love doing every single day, so I’m taking hold of that with both hands. I’d like to think I’ve matured a bit – some of the boys might not think so – but on and off the field, as a person.”
If Lawrence has found a way to channel adversity this season, it is equally remarkable how he has not let up. He missed out on England’s initial Six Nations squad but injuries led to a start against Scotland – a first in nearly two years – and he kept his place, shining in the victory over Wales, until a hamstring injury against France.
He will, however, be part of the first tranche of players to convene in mid-June, with Steve Borthwick making clear what he expects of squad hopefuls, and Lawrence is approaching it with his hallmark determination. “The main thing is to make sure you’re fit going into these camps instead of using these camps to get fit,” he says. “My focus is to get as fit as possible, train as much as I can.”
Before that, though, Lawrence will be back at the airport soon enough for a stag-do for a former Worcester teammate, one of 16 heading to Barcelona. “You don’t have those same relationships but the ones you stay in touch with, they will last a lifetime,” he says. “I throw back to it now and I think about [the last week with Worcester] … I haven’t seen some of those boys for a very long time – but I am fortunate enough to have seen some of them – and to take the field at Sixways one last time and get the win was something that will always be special to me. Hopefully one day I can get back out there and play again in front of those fans.”
