Lawrence helps England defeat Georgia

Warriors centre Ollie Lawrence helped England ease to a 40-0  win over Georgia in their opening match in the new Autumn Nations Cup at a soggy Twickenham.

Lawrence made his first start for England, having made his debut as a replacement against Italy in Rome two weeks ago, and played the first 60 minutes before he was replaced by Bristol Bears debutant Max Malins.

Although Lawrence had few opportunities to impress with the ball, he was industrious in defence and his clever decoy run wrong-footed Georgia and enabled Jonathan Joseph to set up Elliot Daly for the bonus point try just before half-time.

Lawrence also caught the eye by scooping up a Barnes Wallis-pass from centre partner Henry Slade off his bootlaces early in the contest.

Despite Georgia’s reputation for having one of the most dominant scrums in world rugby, England dominated set-piece play with Jamie George becoming the first English hooker to score a hat-trick of tries.

Wasps flanker Jack Willis celebrated his international debut with England’s opening try with his club-mate Dan Robson scoring the sixth – and his first in international rugby – after he replaced Ben Youngs midway through the second half.