HEAD coach Rory Duncan is convinced “quality” young centre Ollie Lawrence will wear the Red Rose in the “not too distant future”.

The highly-rated 19-year-old has swiftly followed fellow academy ace Ted Hill by penning a first-team contract at Sixways.

And Duncan reckons Lawrence has the ability to match the recent success of Hill who made his England debut last month by representing his country at senior level.

“Ollie has proven to be quite an attacking threat,” said Duncan who confirmed Lawrence had signed a two-year deal.

“Like Ted I believe he will be an international so I am very excited to have him here.”

Lawrence trained with the full England squad ahead of their tour to South Africa over the summer and has represented his country at under 18 and under 20 levels.

On Lawrence’s chances of featuring for Eddie Jones’ side, Duncan added: “It depends on competition and who else is in that slot.

“But I do believe that he will be wearing a white jersey with a Red Rose on it in the not too distant future as he is a quality player.”

Lawrence, who hails from Birmingham, has been part of the Warriors academy since the age of 14 and burst onto the first-team scene with a try on his debut against Sale Sharks in November 2017.

The exciting back made his Premiership debut in September’s trip to Exeter Chiefs and has starred for his side during victories over Stade Francais Paris, Ospreys, Sale Sharks and Leicester Tigers.

Duncan described Lawrence who is expected to feature in tomorrow’s European Challenge Cup game at Pau (7pm GMT) as an “elusive” attacker.

But Duncan was also keen to highlight the progress the outside centre had made with his defensive game.

“I have never seen a player with the ability to get on the outside of his defender, find himself in a bit of space and make clever decisions so when to make those little offloads and when not to,” Duncan said.

“He is quite elusive and quite a hard guy to track down.

“Defensively he has made a lot of progress this season as well so he is really mastering the art of the shut down and that’s been really pleasing for us.

“Ollie and (defence coach) Omar (Mouneimne) have been working very closely together.

“The growth of his defence over the past couple of months has been impressive.”

Duncan is pleased to see the club produce players like Lawrence and Hill and believes there are more talented youngsters in the set-up.

“The academy coaching staff have done a fantastic job as we have got a number of players coming through that have really proven that they have got the capabilities,” Duncan said.

“In terms of managing expectations I think both Ted and Ollie have got their feet firmly on the ground so it has not been too much of a difficult task to keep them focused.”