England centre Ollie Lawrence has confirmed that he will miss the rest of the season after suffering a serious achilles injury during the win over Italy, ending his hopes of pushing for British and Irish Lions selection.
Lawrence sustained the non-contact injury inside the opening 10 minutes at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham and was carted off, with the 25-year-old later seen on crutches.
Head coach Steve Borthwick suggested after the game that he feared that the Bath back had ruptured his achilles, and the player has now confirmed that his season is over.
“Lost for words… “ Lawrence said on X, formerly Twitter. “That’s not how I imagined my season to end!
“Extremely grateful to have such an amazing partner, family and friends around me to take on this next chapter. Thanks for all the support & messages. ‘The comeback is always greater than the set back’.”
Lawrence would have been a possible contender for Andy Farrell’s travelling Lions party for the tour of Australia after establishing himself as a consistent England starter over the last 12 months, though centre shapes as a competitive area in the selection shake-up.
The powerful ball-carrier has worked closely with Scotland fly half Finn Russell at Bath and has provided his national side with a much needed backline focal point.
Club colleague Max Ojomoh, who started for England A in their win over their Irish counterparts last month, has been called up to Borthwick’s squad to replace Lawrence ahead of England’s final Six Nations fixture against Wales in Cardiff.
Veterans Henry Slade, left out against Italy, and Elliot Daly - who stepped in to midfield after Lawrence’s injury on Sunday - are strong contenders to take the 13 shirt at the Principality Stadium.
Borthwick also talked up wing Tommy Freeman, who has featured at outside centre for Northampton and briefly in international colours, and uncapped Harlequins back Oscar Beard as options to fill the void left by Lawrence.
“We obviously have a couple of options about how we make a change,” explained Borthwick. “Elliot [Daly]’s ability to cover centre, Tommy [Freeman]’s ability to go into the centre - there are adaptions and at different times in the [Italy] game we did it in different ways.
“[Oscar Beard] has trained really well when he has been with the squad and his ball carrying is real point of difference.”
