England have both Manu Tuilagi and Ollie Lawrence available for this weekend’s Six Nations clash with Scotland.

But Chris Ashton believes that Lawrence can be the long-term successor to Tuilagi, as Steve Borthwick for the first time this tournament can pick between both.

“Ollie seems like very, very similar to Manu and it’s taken his move to Bath to realise his full potential in how good he can be,” Ashton told PA.

“Against Toulouse a few weeks ago he was outstanding. We have yet to see that at England level, but I see Ollie as the perfect replacement for Manu, a really natural fit.

“When Manu’s available you still have to use him because he’s so different, but he’s more of a risk because he hasn’t had any game time.

“He can come off the bench and do 15 or 20 minutes, but that’s a problem in itself because if someone goes down early and Manu’s got to go on, then he’s at real high risk because he’s got to do 60 or 70 minutes.

“Ollie’s less risky just because of his age, the number of injuries he’s had is quite low and he’s played a lot of ruby for Bath this season, so he can get going quickly. I would be leaning towards Ollie on the bench for those factors.”