SKY Sports commentator and former England rugby union international Stuart Barnes has urged Worcester Warriors' Ollie Lawrence to consider leaving Worcester if he wants to pursue his international career.

Barnes, who writes a weekly column for The Times newspaper, believes that if Lawrence has ambitions to play in Eddie Jones' England side, he must be seen to be able to cope with pressure.

The player turn pundit and commentator was full of praise for the England and Worcester centre, saying he had all the talents to be an "extremely good" international midfielder.

"In terms of talent, Lawrence has an abundance," he said in his column.

"In terms of speed and size, he is plenty powerful enough.

"He has everything required to not only be an international player, but an extremely good one.

"There is only one question mark surrounding him... we do not know how he handles pressure".

Barnes goes on to say that in order to prove to Jones he has what it takes, he needs to be playing at a higher level, so you would assume he means Champions Cup rugby/the top end of the Gallagher Premiership.

He says that there is no "upward pressure" when he is playing for Warriors and thinks that ringfencing the Premiership would have a negative affect on his performance, as the fear of relegation would vanish.

In that respect, leaving, according to Barnes, would at least enable him to play in more important and pressurised fixtures.

He said that Lawrence signing the new contract last summer could be a "greater impediment to his international prospects".

But given Jones seems to rate Lawrence highly, and started him against both Georgia and Ireland in the autumn, surely the club he plays for doesn't make too much of a difference?

You could argue that that Ollie starring in a struggling side shows a great deal about his quality and he is certainly given the platform to perform by Warriors, he always stands out as the top performer, more times than not.

This could well be a piece more to do with ringfencing and it's potential to ruin the competitiveness of the Premiership but you certainly think that avoiding relegation is necessary for Worcester to keep hold of Lawrence.