by During his playing days, World Cup-winning winger Richard Hill kept a low profile and in his current role as England manager, talent scout and one of Steve Borthwick’s chief lieutenants, little seems to have changed.
Ask England’s newest full-back, Chandler Cunningham-South, who recently learned that the 50-year-old who has been giving him some tips for the past couple of years, “seems that he knows what he is talking about”, speaking from considerable experience. “He found out I played in the World Cup, probably three months ago,” says Hill. “Chandler is less concerned about what’s going on in the past. He wanted to know why I didn’t tell him. I said it had no impact on what we’re trying to achieve, which was about him, not me.”
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It’s a fitting story from someone known as the “Silent Assassin” during his playing days, described by his great French rival Serge Betsen as coming “from the shadows, from the darkness”, and one that reflects Hill’s role in England. Hill does not seek the limelight and has rarely spoken to the media in more than seven years as a team manager.
Hill started working for the Rugby Football Union in 2014 with a focus on pathway development and a mentoring role for full-backs. Eddie Jones appointed him team manager in 2016 and when Borthwick took over a year ago, Hill’s role was more prominent. The current head coach continues to be very active in the identification and development of talent and plays a central role in maintaining and improving the relationship between club countries.
His influence is evident as he watched the England squad in their win over Italy last weekend. One of the first things Jones did as head coach was to task Hill with finding some open flankers in the days when England had an abundance of “six and a half” but not enough seventies. Not long after, Hill brought Jones to the attention of Sam Underhill – then playing for the Ospreys – and Tom Curry, currently sidelined with a debilitating hip injury, regularly talks about Hill’s influence on his career.
Meanwhile, Ethan Roots made his Rome debut and Hill brought him to the attention of Borthwick, who watched him in Premiership Rugby Cup action for Exeter and England at last year’s World Cup. “My experience with Richard Hill is that he’s one of the most popular talent-wise,” Borthwick said. “Two [he] he tells me to track back to front, I’m listening.”
Then there is Cunningham-South, who is only 20 – eight months old when Hill won the World Cup – but made a fine cameo off the bench against Italy. “There’s no doubt that he’s powerful, he’s got an attack,” Hill says. “And he’s got the physical skill set that’s important to break tackles and make the team. we saw [against Italy] that the cover he made and shows that he is willing to cover the ground, and not only cover it but make sure he nestles his shoulder in someone’s ribs if necessary. And I like that a lot. Yes, I really like that.”
So how does it feel to see players he helped make the senior team? “I’m definitely happy,” says Hill. “There are a lot of people in this management who spend a lot of time watching rugby, trying to make players as good as possible. And it is very important for us to see a player perform, to see the team win. Of course, that will be satisfying. But that’s one game. We cannot afford to let that settle with the second game. It must be continuous.
“Personal experience tells me the moment you think you’re the finished article, or that you’ve made it in this environment, you’re gone. Unfortunately, the game moves on. People are always looking for ways to beat the system. It’s not uncommon to have a top player, then suddenly, a few games in the opposition are gone: ‘I like the way he looks. We have to nullify it.’ And then your skill set is how you reinvent yourself.
“Look at Richie McCaw. Everyone said they knew how it played – well if you think it would be easy to close, wouldn’t you? Now sure, there were periods where he was probably quieter, but then he would find another way to do something – and that’s the challenge for every player that comes through the system.”
Hill practices what he preaches and was eyeing the latest England under-20 in their win over Italy last Friday night – Northampton full-back Henry Pollock scored a hat-trick and is a name to keep an eye on – and he will do so. again against Wales this weekend.
Since Borthwick’s arrival, Hill’s remit has expanded and is “across Premier League games”. He says there are no specific positions he is looking for – to take the holistic approach – but tight end and inside positions where England in particular lack depth are undoubtedly on his agenda. Facing England’s relative lack of power too now that the Vunipola brothers are out of the picture and Manu Tuilagi, now 32, a fading force.
“We have a system of clubs that come into our international teams and obviously, I think what we’re going to try to do is develop as many players as possible,” says Hill. “The nature of the sport is that they’re not always going to fit so we have the biggest spread of players, the biggest group we can get.
“Playing as high as they can allows the training to be better, which allows them to challenge themselves more, which ultimately means that positions in teams become more difficult, the games become much more difficult , and we get these better players. I can’t say that I didn’t talk about a certain player who is a back that I said as a center, but I was out voted about 99 to one, so we go with it, and we keep moving just because the conversations that goes on all the time.”
