{"id":1139399,"date":"2026-08-09T09:18:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T09:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1139399\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T09:18:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T09:18:19","slug":"jonathan-davies-england-should-pair-up-ollie-lawrence-and-henry-slade-at-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1139399\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan Davies: England should pair up Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade at centre"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Davies says England<\/a> should give Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade time to build a lasting centre partnership. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The former Wales<\/a> and British & Irish Lions<\/a> centre knows from experience how important continuity can be, having formed successful partnerships with the likes of Jamie Roberts and Hadleigh Parkes during his international career.<\/p>\n

Davies feels Lawrence\u2019s ability to square up defenders and generate front-foot ball would complement 78-cap Exeter Chiefs<\/a> stalwart Slade\u2019s creativity, kicking game and renewed confidence.<\/p>\n

Bath<\/a> centre Lawrence, a pivotal figure in England\u2019s 11-match win streak, has been omitted from Steve Borthwick\u2019s squads as of late, with the last of his 38 caps coming against Ireland<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n

\"\"Call: Jonathan Davies<\/p>\n

Momentum<\/p>\n

Davies said: \u201cI really do like Ollie Lawrence as a 12. He goes at the line really square and he is able to play and keep his momentum going forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he runs with the ball in his hand, he is leaning forward so you don\u2019t know whether he is going to carry or pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d probably then opt for Henry Slade, who\u2019s enjoyed a resurgence in his rugby.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe seems to be playing with freedom and confidence. Plus, his kicking game is so important at international level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davies fears Borthwick\u2019s controlling approach is preventing Lee Blackett from transforming England\u2019s attack ahead of next year\u2019s World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Dynamic duo: Ollie Lawrence, above, and Henry Slade<\/p>\n

Lack of progress<\/p>\n

Davies rates Blackett as one of the best coaches he has worked with after spending six months under him at Scarlets<\/a> and expected his appointment to unlock England\u2019s attacking potential.<\/p>\n

But Davies has been surprised by the lack of progress and believes Borthwick may need to loosen his grip and give his coaches greater autonomy.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI worked with Lee Blackett, and he was one of the best coaches I\u2019ve ever had.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen England signed him, I thought that with the talent they have, England would really go to the next level.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore the Six Nations<\/a>, I thought England would be favourites to win and be strong contenders for the World Cup next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I just haven\u2019t seen an evolution in their attack. I wonder if there is a leash being put on Lee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hear that Steve is very controlling and risk-averse. Sometimes giving coaches more autonomy gets more out of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am wondering if Steve is trying to control too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upgrade<\/p>\n

Davies, who won 96 Wales caps between 2009-22, thanks renowned seven-time Six Nations winning defence coach Shaun Edwards for having a huge impact on his decorated career.<\/p>\n

After Edwards parted ways with France<\/a> this year, Davies believes he would upgrade any Test side.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a world-class coach,\u201d said Davies. \u201cJust look at what he has achieved throughout his career. It is remarkable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question, if England were ever interested in him, would be whether Steve Borthwick would be comfortable giving Shaun full control of that side of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Shaun would want autonomy and Borthwick appears to like having control.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Shaun makes every rugby environment he works in much, much better.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember in 2019 when Wayne Pivac was about to take over Wales. He called me into his office at around the time Shaun had agreed to coach Wigan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWayne told me there was an opportunity to buy Shaun out of that contract and keep him with Wales.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said to Wayne: \u2018If the union won\u2019t pay it, if I were you I\u2019d pay it myself because he will repay you and then some\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is how highly I rate him. I loved playing for Shaun because he cared so much about his players.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could feel how invested he was in the team and that always brought the best out of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Discover the best betting sites with Betpack at https:\/\/www.betpack.com\/<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jonathan Davies says England should give Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade time to build a lasting centre partnership.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1139400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5008],"tags":[5012,748,39681,393,6874,1123,36,4884,678,11653,15033,4209,16,15,1764,1514],"class_list":["post-1139399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-england","tag-bath","tag-britain","tag-british-irish-lions","tag-england","tag-exeter-chiefs","tag-featured","tag-france","tag-great-britain","tag-ireland","tag-premium","tag-scarlets","tag-six-nations","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales","tag-world-cup"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117064807871674471","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1139399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1139400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1139399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1139399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1139399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}