Hill out to cash in on England chance

AS Ted Hill picked up another man of the match award after his all-round display in Bath's emphatic victory over Sale last weekend, England's coaches were mulling over a replacement for Ollie Chessum who had just been ruled out of the autumn series after suffering an injury training in Girona.

- PAUL REES

Hill looked the obvious replacement for Chessum, even if the 25-year old is a back rower who can operate in the second row rather than the other way around, but having been consistently overlooked during the Steve Borthwick era, he shrugged when asked as he performed media duties following the Sale success whether he thought he would get a call.

Hill's display against Sale contained numerous reasons why a phone call to him would have been a sound investment. He was involved in everything tackling carrying and hard, winning line-outs, helping secure turnovers and covering more metres with the ball in hand than any other forward.

Given that it was little different to how he had been playing since he was won the first of his two England caps as a 19year old as a replacement against Japan in 2018 - the other came in the summer of 2021 against the United States at Twickenham, also from the bench - he has learned to keep his head down rather than his hopes up Hill missed part of last season through injury, but was a significant factor behind Bath's reaching the Premiership final against Northampton at Twickenham, two years after they had finished bottom of the table.

He was captaining Worcester then and leading by example with the Warriors involved in a basement battle most seasons.

When he was at Worcester, his omission by England was put down to the fact he was playing for a struggling club. So when the Warriors folded, it was something of a surprise that he pitched up at Bath, a club that had lost its way and was wallowing at the wrong end of the table.

"Unfortunate circumstances meant I had to find a new club," said Hill. "Bath were, like Worcester, at the bottom end of the Premiership table but it was clear that the arrival of Johann van Graan (as head coach) had marked a turning point.