Freeman deserves run on centre stage

THE England midfield has been a mishmash of failed partnerships, wishful thinking, hap-hazard revolving-door selection, injury disruption, and endless frustration for followers of the Red Rose for the best part of 20 years.

- NICK CAIN

What’s more, as England face Italy this afternoon with Fraser Dingwall, below, and Ollie Lawrence yet another centre partnership attempting to bed-in, nothing much has changed.

Dingwall’s first two international caps came at inside centre alongside Henry Slade against Italy and Wales at the start of last season’s Six Nations, before the Northampton ‘glue- man’ was dropped, only to reappear in the starting line-up this week.

This will be Dingwall’s first 12-13 partnership at Test level with Lawrence, although at least they have a cursory knowledge of both positions. In Dingwall’s case it is sometimes playing at 13 for Saints outside the Scot, Rory Hutchinson, and Lawrence because he and Slade bounced between 12 and 13 when England tinkered unsuccessfully with their blitz defence.

Overall, Lawrence and Slade had moments where they gelled in attack, but they did not develop into a lethal combination – and it’s possible that the partnership has run its course.

One of the biggest questions raised by England’s inability to produce a truly potent centre partnership is how so many other nations – like South Africa, Ireland, France, Scotland, New Zealand, and Argentina – manage their midfield resources, and successions, much more successfully.