Seen the performance of Ollie Lawrence against Italy used as proof that England should ditch a dual playmaker backline. Not sure that'll happen definitively, mainly because Lawrence attacked like a 13 a lot of the time.... continued 👇
England have run the exact same lineout strike within the first 10 minutes of both of their 6N games, with Henry Slade swapping in for Owen Farrell and Lawrence swapping in for Joe Marchant.
It's a bit slicker against Italy, largely because Lawrence is more suited to the hole-punching role, and Ellis Genge finds Farrell with a pull-back on the second phase rather than carrying, as he did against Scotland.
I think we saw that Lawrence is a better foil for this sort of backline and this set of starter plays. That will also be one reason why Farrell shifted to 12 when Smith came on in the second half against Italy.
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