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How Ollie Lawrence overcame job loss and injuries to make World Cup
By Liam Heagney
Ollie Lawrence has explained the motivation that saw him overcome three massive setbacks in less than a year. The England midfielder was briefly left unemployed last autumn when his contract at Worcester was liquidated after the club fell out of the Gallagher Premiership.
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He bounced back to star for Bath, excellent form that resulted in him starting three Guinness Six Nations matches in the spring and scoring a crucial try in his country’s February win over Wales.
However, his Test run was painfully ended by a hamstring injury in his team’s humiliating heavy home defeat to France.
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While he recovered to finish out the season for his new club and be crowned Premiership player of the year, further injury worries weren’t far away as Lawrence was to spend four weeks of the England pre-season listed as part of their rehab group following a week-one knee setback in early June.
It took him a month to get back fit and back in Steve Borthwick’s squad and that recovery culminated last Monday in his inclusion in the squad of 33 that will travel to France at the end of August ahead of a World Cup campaign that begins versus Argentina in Marseille on September 9.
Before his latest step towards that opening fixture, a start in this Saturday’s Summer Nations Series match versus Wales in London, Lawrence has reflected on his up-and-down journey since the start of the 2022/23 season.
What helped him stay the course despite the concerning setbacks of job loss and injuries? “It was the realisation that rugby can be taken away from you at any point, whether that be injury or any factor.
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“I think the fact that I was at a place [Worcester] for so long and grew up playing there, and then had to completely move to a different team where a load of different players have been together for a long time was a real challenge.
“My real motivation is the fact that I was fortunate enough to pick up a gig pretty sharpish and I wanted to bring the best out of myself and just get going again.
“It was difficult, but we all go through ups and downs in life and my job is to play rugby to the best of my ability. Hopefully, I did that for Bath this season and moving forward now with England over these next few weeks, hopefully I can do the same.”
Borthwick road-tested six specialist midfielders across the England pre-season, Will Joseph dropping out after week one to leave five players to contest a position where ultimately there were only three spots available.
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In the end, Lawrence made the cut, along with Manu Tuilagi and Joe Marchant, with Henry Slade and Guy Porter the recipients of bad news last Sunday morning in Cardiff from coach Borthwick.
Did Lawrence’s untimely pre-season injury leave him stressed that he might not make the World Cup? “Initially it probably runs through your head and you think, ‘Oh, this is the end’. You have those few moments and then the next day as soon as you realise what you are facing, you deal with it. It happened, I got injured.
“I just had to work as hard as I could off the field to try and get to the place where these boys were on the field and make sure that when I came back the gap wasn’t too far away.
“In the end, it was just doing my best. The call that Steve was going to make was going to be his decision and all I could do was put myself in the best position to be back on the field.”
