Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan was full of praise for the performance of Ollie Lawrence in his side’s PREM Rugby victory over Bristol Bears at the Rec on Saturday.
After suffering a surprising defeat to Leicester Tigers in a Round Four clash at Welford Road, Bath’s supporters expected a response from their players and Lawrence was at the forefront of that effort as the champions clinched a 40-15 triumph.
It was not easy though as the visitors had the better of the early exchanges and raced into a 15-5 lead but Bath came back strongly during the latter stages of the half and led 19-15 when the teams changed sides at the interval.
Crossed for a well-taken try
Outside centre Lawrence was at the forefront of his team’s fightback as he scored a well-taken try late in the opening half after gathering a perfectly weighted chip kick from Finn Russell.
Lawrence continued to shine after half-time as Bath scored 21 unanswered points to seal a deserved victory.
And Van Graan was delighted with the form of the 26-year-old, who is set to return to international duty with England after recovering from a serious Achilles injury which he sustained while on Test duty during the Red Rose’s 47-24 victory over Italy in the Six Nations earlier this year.
The Bath stalwart was in excellent form at the time but his injury ruled him out of the British and Irish Lions’ tour to Australia.
Lawrence was set to be sidelined until December but Van Graan revealed in June that the player was “ahead of schedule” for his return to action and did just that last month.
He has been recalled to England head coach Steve Borthwick’s squad ahead of the upcoming Autumn Nations Series and Van Graan was impressed with his all-round display against Bristol.
‘He had some big moments’
“His effort and commitment to get back is great to see,” he said. “He had some big moments today and it’s the small detail in helping the forwards in close-quarter combat that was good.
“He’ll certainly keep building into the season as he progresses.
“We made a decision that he would play three games in this block.”
Van Graan admitted that losing players to England training camp earlier in the week had an impact on his side’s slow start against Bristol.
“We trained together for 25 minutes on Thursday,” he said. “That’s not ideal but it’s the same for all sides and I want as many of our guys as possible to play international rugby.
“We stuck to the way we wanted to play. It’s never going to be perfect but, look, we scored 40 points.”