Outcast England flanker skins winger on Eddie Jones’ radar
Despite being 112kg and 1.96m, Worcester Warriors captain Ted Hill showed that he can motor yesterday in the Premiership Rugby Cup final.
Starting at No8, as opposed to his usual role as a flanker, the 23-year-old was immense at the Brentford Community Stadium, tackling himself to a standstill as his side came out victorious on tries scored after the scores were tied after extra time. But he was on the scoresheet as well, in a way.
Hill thought he had scored early in the second half what looked as though it could have been an unassailable lead (although London Irish have made a habit of heroic comebacks this season). His try was chalked off, but that did not stop it being a mightily impressive finish.
After picking up a loose ball in his half, Hill raced away for the try with a string of Exiles players in hot pursuit. One of those was winger Ollie Hassell-Collins. While Hill did have a head start over the England hopeful, he was unable to close the gap, and if anything it grew bigger.
Hassell-Collins was part of the England squad during the Six Nations, but was not part of Eddie Jones 36-man training squad that will convene this week. Neither was Hill, who still only has two caps to his name- one against Japan in 2018 and one against the United States last year.
Take a look at Hill’s ‘try’:
London Irish XV:
15 Henry Arundell (Loader 73), 14 Lucio Cinti (Arundell 93), 13 Will Joseph (Rona 55), 12 Benhard van Rensburg, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Ben White (Englefield 81); 1 Facundo Gigena (Goodrick-Clarke 48), 2 Mike Willemse (Cornish 26), 3 Marcel van der Merwe (Parker 48), 4 Chunya Munga (Mafi 52), 5 Rob Simmons, 6 Matt Rogerson (c) (Donnell 65), 7 Juan Martín González, 8 Albert Tuisue.
Replacements:
16 Matt Cornish, 17 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 18 Ciaran Parker, 19 Steve Mafi, 20 Ben Donnell, 21 Caolan Englefield, 22 Curtis Rona, 23 Ben Loader.
Worcester Warriors XV:
15 Jamie Shillcock, 14 Perry Humphreys (Hearle 63), 13 Francois Venter (Lawrence 53), 12 Ashley Beck, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Gareth Simpson (Chudley 66); 1 Ethan Waller (Sutherland 46, Judge 93), 2 Niall Annett (Miller 66), 3 Christian Judge (McCallum 47), 4 Joe Batley, 5 Graham Kitchener (Kitchener 63), 6 Kyle Hatherell, 7 Matt Kvesic (Lewis 65), 8 Ted Hill (c).
Replacements:
16 Isaac Miller, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Andrew Kitchener, 20 Sam Lewis, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Ollie Lawrence, 23 Alex Hearle.
