Andy Farrell likely has the three Ireland centres in Bundee Aki, Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose all jotted down in his notebook when it comes to selection for the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia next summer, and rightly so given their respective talents.

But the fourth and potentially final centre slot feels open to a shoot-out between a number of excellent candidates, one of which will have to be Ollie Lawrence on current form.

Named player of the match at Kingsholm, there was so much about Lawrence’s performance for Steve Borthwick to feel pleased about heading into the autumn, and also for Farrell to keep in mind.

Gloucester could not cope with the direct running Lawrence provides when he hits those flat passes from Ben Spencer and Finn Russell.

The wider line he ran for his try gave him the room he needed to then dispatch Caolan Englefield with a powerful fend. The score took Lawrence to three tries in four matches so far this season.

Lawrence subtlety a joy to behold

But it was the subtlety to Lawrence’s game that stood out as much, with the 25-year-old reaching out to collect a tricky pass before his offload created a try for Josh Bayliss.

In defence he notably harassed Tomos Williams at one ruck and finished with 11 tackles, capping an eye-catching performance which drew high praise from Bath head coach Johann van Graan.

“When I got to him coming off the pitch I said ‘that was world class’,” Van Graan said. “That is a world-class performance from an outside centre, not only defensively but also in attack. He has grown so much in his leadership in our defence, and he and JP [Ferreira, defence coach] work so well together.

“He’s a player who wants more responsibility. He and I agreed that he would have more and what is that, three man-of-the-match performances in a row, now? I would like to think that he has become a better player since he moved to Bath. He is putting in the work day in and day out.”

Lawrence, speaking afterwards, highlighted two areas as being crucial for his game with “a lot going on at the back end of the year”, as he put it, referring to the Lions.

‘The biggest thing for me is consistency’

“The biggest thing for me is consistency and backing up these performances. It’s not good enough to have one good week and then the next not really be in the game,” Lawrence explained. “Lee [Blackett, attack coach] has pushed me on getting as many touches of the ball as I can.

“That was the biggest thing today, getting momentum and front-foot ball. It is mainly about the feel of the game, because if you have a target it is easy to start chasing carries.”

Beno Obano was another standout for Bath with two tries and the consistently impressive Miles Reid might be one of the most under-appreciated talents in the Premiership, while Russell had the last laugh in his ongoing battle with The Shed, raising his finger to his lips at full-time. Granted though, Lawrence and Bath will certainly face tougher defences than this.

Gloucester have clearly set out their stall to attack from everywhere and when it works it can be enthralling, with Ollie Thorley excelling.

But in the second half, with a lineout hindered by injuries, they wasted attacking positions and then were punished by turnovers after continually overplaying their hand, including one failed offload by Zach Mercer which led to Tom de Glanville’s breakaway try.

“We’re pushing our luck the way we’re playing,” Gloucester head coach George Skivington said afterwards. If Gloucester can find a way to contain that ambition aligned with a tighter defence, they will hurt teams. In a second half here where the scoreline was 7-38, Bath and Lawrence punished their mistakes.

Match details

Scoring: 0-5 Obano try, 0-7 Russell con, 5-7 Llewellyn try, 7-7 Carreras con, 7-10 Russell pen, 12-10 Williams try, 14-10 Carreras con, 19-10 Atkinson try, 21-10 Carreras con, 21-15 Russell try, 21-17 Russell con, 24-17 Carreras pen, 24-22 Obano try, 24-24 Russell con, 24-31 penalty try, 24-36 Bayliss try, 24-41 De Glanville try, 29-41 Thorley try, 31-41 Barton con, 31-46 Lawrence try, 31-48 Russell con, 31-53 Coetzee try, 31-55 Russell con

Gloucester: S Carreras (G Barton 55); J Hathaway, M Llewellyn, S Atkinson, O Thorley; G Anscombe (C Atkinson 19), T Williams (C Englefield 74); C Knight (V Rapava-Ruskin 53), J Singleton (S Blake 55), A Fasogbon (K Gotovtsev 55), F Clarke, F Thomas (M Alemanno 9), J Clement, L Ludlow (c), Z Mercer (R Ackermann 67)
Sin bin: Atkinson 47

Bath: T de Glanville (O Bailey 72), W Butt, O Lawrence, C Redpath, A Emens; F Russell, B Spencer (c, L Schreuder 66); B Obano (F van Wyk 55), T Dunn (N Annett, 69), T du Toit (W Stuart 66), T Hill, R Molony (J Bayliss 69), J Bayliss (C Ewels 55), M Reid (S Underhill 63), A Barbeary (J Coetzee 53)
Sin bin: Redpath 74

Referee: A Leal. Attendance: 16,115