Ollie Lawrence put aside the frustrations and upheaval he has had to endure to make a powerful and very direct impact for England against Italy, in keeping with the clear instructions he received.
Asked to explain his Man of the Match role in Sunday's win over the Azzurri at Twickenham, the Bath centre said: ‘I think Steve (Borthwick) put it as, "You've got to kick the front door down".

You can understand what he means by that.'
Just a few minutes into the fixture, Lawrence was already giving that door a good kicking and it was well and truly down by the time he was being announced as the star performer in a 31-14 home win. Crucially, as well as providing a forceful, route-one carrying impact, the 23-year-old also gave England precious balance, by linking well with the ball-players either side of him.

‘Faz () has been really good for me, making sure that I know what I'm doing and he is giving me the right balls, so I've just fed off him,' he said.

‘Sladey outside is an experienced player, both of them are, so I am happy to be stuck in the middle of them. I take the lead runners off Sladey and let him deal with the fancy stuff out the back.'
That is a succinct summary of his intentions on the day, but Lawrence has had to show considerable character, to reach the point where he was trusted to return to the Red Rose midfield.

From the autumn of 2020 through to the summer of 2021, he had been a regular in match-day squads under Eddie Jones, but having been chronically under-used in attack, he was harshly discarded.
Ollie Lawrence has put aside the tumult and uncertainty he has experienced in his short career
The centre is thriving for England - thanks in part to the clarity of Steve Borthwick's instruction
Referring to that period, when his evident talent was not properly harnessed, Lawrence carefully said: adultsuperstarshere.com ‘I think last time… I don't want to say I wasn't in the plan… Sometimes, when you don't look for the ball, you don't get it.'
Injuries had frustrated his efforts to reignite his stalling career, but then came even more significant disruption for the rookie who had come through the ranks at Worcester, as his club went bust last autumn, which left him out of work.

Luckily for Lawrence, Bath signed him up and he responded with a series of stellar performances which propelled him back on to the England radar.
‘I'm fortunate that after what happened at Worcester, I managed to find a club so quickly and from then on I've never taken it for granted,' he said.

‘I think that's the main thing that spurred me on to keep performing each week.
‘I had to mature. There was a lot of pressure to take advantage of the opportunity I got. Fortunately, it was at a good club and I managed to get to where I am now.