England’s reshuffle of the centres for Sunday’s Six Nations match against Italy at Twickenham has brought in Northampton Saints’s Fraser Dingwall alongside Bath’s Ollie Lawrence, with Henry Slade dropped, to go toe-to-toe with a settled combo in the Azzurri’s Tommaso Menoncello and Juan Ignacio “Nacho” Brex.
If, as the saying goes, forwards decide who wins rugby matches and the backs determine by how much, these four men should have a pivotal effect on the final scoreline.
Lawrence and Dingwall are both 25 years old, and they trained together for England’s under-20s in 2019, with one replacing the other in a match, but they have never started a game together.
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Read More“We’ve grown up around the scene together,” Dingwall said. “I know him pretty well.”
Dingwall is a fascinating case study; a wonderful all-court centre but thus far a nearly man in England terms.
Described by head coach Steve Borthwick this week as a “glue player” in the backs, he captained Scotland’s under-16s and England’s under-20s, and has been in England senior squads since 2020, but with just two caps – when he featured in a 10-12-13 set-up of George Ford-Dingwall-Slade against Italy and Wales in last year’s Six Nations.
Dingwall then captained England A in their win over an Australia XV in November, and he now replaces Slade as England’s intuitive defensive leader, probably defending in the No 13 channel.
Dingwall said of himself a year ago: “I wouldn’t replicate what Manu [Tuilagi] does, I wouldn’t replicate what Sladey does, I wouldn’t replicate what Ollie [Lawrence] does, and so on.
“It’s more about creating a balance in the midfield as a whole and a backline as a whole can complement each other.
“If I can be really good with my voice and bringing the best out of other people, that becomes my super-strength – not so much really quick or really powerful.”
Dingwall (left) lifts the Premiership trophy with Lewis Ludlam (Photo: Getty)At 14st 7lbs, he is far from the biggest No 12, but in the summer of 2023, all the Northampton players bulked up, and last season he said he “felt a bit heavier running” and could “feel it” in contacts.
Accordingly, almost all the clips of Dingwall show his slick passing and smooth sidestep – but if England stick to kicking everything as they did last time out in the 16-15 win over Scotland, we might only see these attributes in unstructured situations such as just after an aerial contest.
A sign of how Borthwick’s England have often played is Dingwall carried the ball just five times for a gain of seven metres across his two appearances in 2024, and passed 12 times with no offloads. But he said this week said he wants to “give him [Lawrence] touches in space, to put him into areas where he excels.”
That would be a welcome change, and if England keep the ball in hand more often, Dingwall could be a revelation as he dovetails with his fly-half club colleague Fin Smith to bring Lawrence and the outside backs into play. Dingwall passed to Elliot Daly for a try against Wales last year, and scored one himself, both at the left corner.
Menoncello and the Argentina-born Brex have a close understanding as regulars together for their club Benetton Treviso, who have reached the last 16 of the Champions Cup next month and are 13th out of 16 in the URC. Brex wears No 13 and Menoncello No 12 for Italy, while for Benetton it is vice-versa.
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Hence, Dingwall said of the pair this week: “I like the way they interchange and bring out each other’s strengths.
“It is largely focused around those two, bringing their backline into the game. If you can get a good wrestle of them, then you can limit how their whole team functions, especially their backline.”
Menoncello was on the wing for Italy last time they were at Twickenham (a 31-14 defeat in 2023), and he has the pace you would expect from that position, while Brex is more direct and physical.
England must be always alert: a good example was a first-phase try scored by Italy after 10 minutes of what turned out to be a 73-24 shellacking by France last time out.
Taking a tapped free-kick from a scrum, Brex and fly-half Paolo Garbisi combined, flat to the line, to send Menoncello sprinting through a gap.
Dingwall this week promised more from England’s attack – up to a point.
“At times, we have looked at games in different ways, to find ways to win, and that’s why you might not have seen as much attacking rugby as normal,” he said.
“I definitely feel like for this weekend, and moving forward, there’s more and more emphasis on taking opportunities and moving the ball to the space, wherever that might be, at the right time. That could be kicking in behind, but that also could be on the edge.”
Dingwall’s go-to song for capping ceremonies and the like is Islands in the Stream. England supporters will hope this new midfield line-up leaves the Azzurri’s dangermen up the Thames without a paddle.
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