Ted Hill will be living the dream if Worcester exorcise the spectre of relegation on Sunday in the M5 derby against Gloucester. A year ago the young flanker was not a familiar name at Sixways, having made a couple of appearances on the bench at the end of Anglo-Welsh matches, but he is now the holder of an England cap and may be involved in the World Cup training camps.
Hill, 20 last month, came off the bench for England against Japan in November two months after making his first start for Worcester, and a few weeks before signing his first senior contract with the club. He started the season expecting to have to use the Premiership Cup as the vehicle to promote himself but he was fast-tracked after coming off the bench in the first half against Leicester at Welford Road in the fourth round of the Premiership and scoring two tries in a 44-37 victory.
“It has been a huge season for me so far,” says Hill before taking a training session for Wolverhampton RFC’s under-12s – their reward for winning a competition promoted by the Premiership’s title sponsors, Gallagher, to “train with your heroes”. He could have passed for an older brother and talked about his own school days, when Worcester players would visit and encourage pupils to aim high.
“I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunities given to me and I have tried to grasp them with both hands. I know I have a lot to work on but it has been a great stepping stone to the next stage. My goal at the start of the season was to put myself in contention for a Premiership start but everything went faster than I anticipated. Suddenly I was playing for England. It felt crazy, but it was a great experience. It is an environment where you have to push yourself to the utmost and I learned so much.”
Dare he dream about playing in the World Cup later this year? “It is not something completely out of the realms of possibility, I suppose, but it is not something I am focusing on,” he said. “I am concentrating on the Premiership and helping to make sure that Worcester get the points we need to stay off the bottom of the table.
“It is a really competitive league and successful clubs in the past have been caught up in the battle to avoid going down. We are disappointed to be in this position because we have a strong squad and had some outstanding results this season. We have not been consistent enough and that needs to change in the run-in.”
Newcastle’s 17-31 defeat at home to Northampton on Friday night means a Worcester win over Gloucester, a side they have not lost to at Sixways since 2010, will guarantee safety, bonus point or not, and a fifth season in the top flight. “We have to give it our very best,” says Hill. “We cannot keep talking about the potential we have: we need to perform and show what we are about regularly.”
Coaching the youngsters at Wolverhampton was more than a contractual obligation for Hill, who was born in London but educated at River School in Worcester, joining the Warriors’ junior academy when he was 14. He was selected in England’s under-20 squad when he was 17 and played for them in last year’s World Rugby Championship final against France.
“I used to find school visits by Worcester players hugely motivating,” said Hill. “They showed what you could achieve. We have a really successful academy system with talented players coming through in numbers. You feel a deep attachment to the club and that is why, for me, it will only be a dream of a season when we know we will be staying in the Premiership.
“With what we have here, we should not be talking about relegation but pushing on and in the coming seasons climbing far higher up the table. There is no question that we have the quality to do that. Everything is in place here. It is up to us.”
