Borthwick praises England s adaptability after Lawrence injury

LONDON - England coach Steve Borthwick said he was delighted with how his team showed adaptability and intelligence to overcome a serious-looking early injury to centre Ollie Lawrence in Sundays 47-24 Six Nations victory over Italy.

Lawrence, one of Englands best performers through the championship, fell to the turf in distress after eight minutes with what Borthwick described as a real tough-looking injury that looks set to end his season and rule him out of contention for a British and Irish Lions squad place.

That meant that Elliot Dalys run at fullback was short-lived as he moved into midfield that was already a new combination with a rare start for Fraser Dingwall, with Marcus Smith coming off the bench to slot in at 15.

I was really pleased with the way they adapted to the early disruption with Ollie Lawrences injury against a really tricky opponent, who were very streetwise, Borthwick told reporters. Fingers crossed the injurys not quite as severe as we fear it might be.

The backline was good. They did a lot of good things and we are trying to build a squad. Today was the right time to make some changes.

So in that context, to do that and to get the result, to get the seven tries was a really great performance by the guys.

Borthwick was delighted after the team was criticised for their lack of ambition in the stodgy win over Scotland two weeks ago.

Ive talked about the team playing fast and being aggressive with the ball and thats the language Ive used, he said.

Scotland played a very smart game, really tactically suitable, but today was a completely different challenge and I thought the guys dealt with this challenge really well.

The bonus-point victory means England remain in the hunt to