England are sweating on the fitness of Ollie Lawrence before their final autumn clash with Argentina this weekend.
Lawrence starred on Saturday in the statement victory against the All Blacks but limped off in the closing stages and could be forced to sit out the match against the Pumas on Sunday. The 26-year-old centre will be assessed when England reconvene on Tuesday after an extra day off but if Lawrence is ruled out it would be a blow for Steve Borthwick.
The England head coach may also be without Freddie Steward, who was withdrawn midway through the first half against New Zealand with a head injury, as he prepares for England’s pursuit of an 11th successive victory and a clean sweep of their autumn fixtures.
Lawrence was in fine form against the All Blacks, scoring England’s opening try before teeing up centre partner Fraser Dingwall in the second half. He was seen hobbling in the closing stages on Saturday, however, and was replaced by Chandler Cunningham-South in the 79th minute with Henry Pollock shifting to the backline.
Lawrence missed the British & Irish Lions tour of Australia last summer with a long-term achilles injury but battled back to action ahead of schedule and while he was omitted from the side that beat Australia at the start of the month, he has impressed against Fiji and New Zealand.
Against the Wallabies, Tommy Freeman, a winger by trade, started at outside-centre having explained at the start of the season that he sees his long-term position in midfield. He is sidelined with a hamstring injury, however, and is not available to face Argentina.
Elliot Daly is fit again and would come into contention for the No 13 jersey if Lawrence is unavailable to face the Pumas, who showed their class with the victory against Scotland on Sunday, but he does not offer the same ball-carrying threat. Daly could also be pressed into action at full-back if Steward is ruled out while Max Ojomoh would be another centre option. Borthwick could even roll the dice and start Ben Earl or Pollock in the back-line.
There is no doubting, however, that Borthwick, who is also without Ollie Chessum (foot injury) will be desperately hoping Lawrence recovers in time. All the more so because his partnership with Dingwall blossomed against the All Blacks and gave rise to optimism Borthwick has finally unearthed a centre combination to take England into the next World Cup.
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Scotland’s Darge reveals ‘quiet changing room’ after slump against Pumas
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Rory Darge admitted he is perplexed at how Scotland allowed themselves to unravel so spectacularly in Sunday’s dire defeat by Argentina.
The Scots looked to be cruising to victory as they led 21-0 midway through the third quarter, but the Pumas hit back with five tries in the closing 24 minutes to claim a remarkable 33-24 victory.
The nature of the capitulation – met with booing from sections of the capacity Murrayfield crowd – has brought fresh focus on the position of long-serving head coach Gregor Townsend.
“It was a quiet changing room afterwards,” said vice-captain Darge. “21-0 up and it felt that way, we felt like we were on top. It was a massive momentum swing and we struggled to stem the flow. The guys on the pitch are the ones that have to do better. “
Asked how a match could turn so dramatically, Darge said: “It’s not good enough. Watching it back, I’m sure there will be loads in there from 21-0 onwards that we can do so much better.”
Darge felt Scotland picked up where they left off in the second half of their spirited 25-17 defeat by New Zealand the previous week as they bossed the Pumas for the first 50 minutes. However, the Glasgow back-rower acknowledged his side became flustered when the visitors started finding their way back into the game and admits that they need to remain far more clear-headed when faced with such adversity.
“We’re constantly looking at ways to get better and I think we had a massive carry-over from last week in what worked for us,” said Darge. “21-0 up, putting them under stress and on top from an attack point of view, from a defence point of view, set piece. Obviously, what we need to look at is how we keep our composure in that last 30 minutes when we’re so far ahead.
“Maybe a bit of an understanding of what Test match rugby is like from us in those moments. You have to be ruthless, particularly against a team as good as Argentina. If you’re not, they can score tries. We just weren’t good enough in that last half hour.”
Attention now turns to their Autumn Nations Series game against Tonga on Sunday. “We need to watch the game back and let it hurt over the next wee while and during the reviews and then quickly the mindset will flip on to Tonga,” Darge said. PA Media
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Indeed, Dingwall, who produced his best performance in an England jersey to date against New Zealand, was full of praise for his midfield partner. “I just feel lucky I’m able to play alongside someone as talented as that,” said Dingwall. “He can do some unbelievable things, he can open a little bit of space for me as well which we saw. Centre partnerships always take a little bit of time to develop and you work out how you can complement each other.
“Fortunately we’ve known each other for a long time, we played some age group stuff together. To build, this has been the first time we’ve had a bit of run together which has been nice. He’s obviously a bit bigger than me and can do some of the power work and hopefully I can do some of the bits to put him in space as well.”
England will on Tuesday regather at their Bagshot base to prepare for the visit of Argentina. The Pumas won the last encounter between the two sides at Twickenham, prevailing 30-29 in 2022 but Borthwick’s callow side claimed an impressive 2-0 series victory in Argentina this summer. England have only managed to win four consecutive November Tests on one occasion – Eddie Jones’ first autumn in charge in 2016 – but can repeat the trick with victory on Sunday.
“It’s incredibly important,” added Dingwall. “We don’t want to be a team that peaks and has one brilliant performance or has a massive spike. If you want to truly be the team that we want to be, you’ve got to do it every single week. So I’ve got no questions about how the group is going to turn up with the same attitude to get better. Review the game honestly, take the learnings, take the positives but once again it’s about attacking another week, we’re playing against a quality Argentina side and that becomes the next most important thing.”
