Lawes is back in the Prem after two years in France and has unfinished business at international level
Courtney Lawes was not expecting to be named in Steve Borthwick’s pre-season England squad over the weekend. While the 37-year-old has made clear that his return to the Prem with Sale Sharks is in no small part down to his ambition to feature in a fifth World Cup next year, much like the national head coach Lawes favours action rather than words.
Borthwick has explained to players such as Lawes, his fellow Sale arrival Joe Marchant and Newcastle’s new No 8, Hoskins Sotutu, that in order to achieve England selection, they must prove themselves against the players they are now competing with in the Prem. As such, Lawes was circumspect when discussing what is privately a fierce determination to add to his 105 caps. “If I play well for Sale I’ll give myself an opportunity to play for England,” was his response, aware that Borthwick’s side have hardly kicked on since he last turned out for them at the 2023 World Cup.
What fascinates most, though, is why Lawes is putting himself through it at all.
There were times in his final years with Northampton and England that Lawes appeared bound together with gaffer tape. Peel away at the frayed edges and after years of what he describes as “balls-to-the-wall rugby” you feared he would crumple in a heap of exhausted parts. Nonetheless, the level at which he was performing at the 2023 World Cup and particularly his final, title-winning season with Northampton was little short of stratospheric. After signing off from English rugby, winners’ medal secured, performing his valedictory press conference topless and wearing ski goggles, does his return not risk tarnishing that legacy?
“I don’t feel nervous,” he says. “I’m not too worried about legacy at this point. I’d much rather come back and not be able to make it than not know whether you’ve called time a bit early. I’ll give it my best effort and the cards will lie where they lie.”
To anyone with a passing interest in Lawes’ career, particularly from the point of his Test resurgence under Eddie Jones, it will come as no surprise that he worries little about legacy. He has four children but there is not the financial imperative either, even if a move to Sale – with whom his wife’s family has close ties – was brought about in part because Northampton could not afford to bring him back. There is a school of thought that worries Lawes is in for a rude awakening after two years in France’s second tier with Brive but it is clear that he has a steely confidence that he can still perform. What has made Lawes one of the most likable England internationals of recent years is that he backs himself without any accompanying bravado.
“At Brive I don’t think I played more than three weeks on the bounce, and very often it was two weeks,” adds Lawes. “So it probably prolonged my career a little bit, going out there and not having to play balls-to-the-wall rugby every single week. I wasn’t ready to retire last season. I was still playing really well and still one of the better players in the league. So I thought I’d go one more time. You’re a long time retired and I can still move really well so, why not when you’ve still got it in your legs.”
Those statements will be music to the ears of Alex Sanderson and his fellow coaches at Sale. Indeed, there is an unmistakable buzz around the place after the arrival of Lawes, who demonstrated his will to win by clinching the pre-season padel competition with Dom Hanson. Young players are in awe of him and senior pros such as George Ford have been taken aback by the levels that Lawes can still reach. Given how highly he rates Ford’s opinion, that will be music to the ears of Borthwick too.
It seems inevitable then, that if he stays fit, Lawes’ return to the England fold will come in the autumn. It is a big if, but there are grounds for optimism. The season before the last World Cup, Lawes barely played for Northampton, making four appearances before mid-April. He had sustained what he thought was a head injury in September 2022 but further investigation revealed a problem with his vestibular system. He returned and performed superbly well for England during their World Cup campaign but he surprised even himself with the heights he hit in the following campaign with Saints.
By then, however, a move to France had been agreed and international retirement had been announced. That is not to suggest Lawes regrets his move to Brive, rather that after maintaining standards across the Channel, he believes he has unfinished business with England. All the more so because Lawes has always been an advocate of scrapping the Rugby Football Union rule that prevents players based outside England being selected.
“When some of your better players are out in France, I don’t see why you’d limit yourself,” he says. “No, I can see why they do it because they don’t want all their players playing abroad but I don’t think that’s necessarily going to be the case anyway. It’s important that you have the best players available for selection. If we want the game to develop and more people to watch it, I think [the rugby landscape] has to develop.”
Lawes is at pains to say that moving to France is not for everyone but believes he returns with a few more strings to his bow and says the key difference in France is one of autonomy. “You’ve got to have a very specific mindset,” he adds. “I see why players, take your Sextons, that are used to doing things a certain way, a certain standard, how they struggle, because you have got to be adaptable, you’ve got to be relaxed as well and have the ability to say: ‘OK, let’s do it your way.’
“It’s much more individual focused rather than team focused. In terms of the players there, instead of moving the ball to space they’re expected to go for the space themselves, that kind of thing.” In other words, the kind of thing that Borthwick’s England are crying out for.
