WHO THE HILL RU?
CC-S didn’t know World Cup hero!
WORLD CUP winner Richard Hill spotted the potential of new boy Chandler Cunningham-South... but the rookie failed to recognise the England legend.
Former flanker Hill, a hero of the 2003 triumph, is now England’s team manager and also has a role unearthing back row talent for Steve Borthwick’s national side.
He uncovered Sam Underhill and Ethan Roots and had his eye on Cunningham-South (below), 20, who made his debut off the bench against Italy on Saturday, when the youngster was at the London Irish academy.
Jon Fisher was in charge of the youth set-up at Irish and rang Hill telling him the rookie back row didn’t know who he was – after Hill had given him some back row tips.
Hill, 50, said: “Jon said that Chandler had told him how he turns out to Under20s training and a couple of times this guy’s come up and he’s had a chat about his game.
“He seems to understand how to play, and he’s got some reasonable ideas. You know, he sounds like he knows what he’s talking about. That was me.
“He found out that I played in the World Cup, probably three months ago. Chandler’s not that fussed about what’s gone on in the past.
“He wanted to know why I didn’t tell him. I said it had no bearing on what we’re trying to achieve, which was him, not me.
“London Irish Academy were making sure that I had some clips. His physicality of carrying was not quite the norm for an 18-year-old compared to others I was watching.
“He has aggression. We saw at the weekend a cover tackle he made and that shows he’s prepared to cover the ground – and not only cover it but make sure he embeds his shoulder into someone’s ribs if needed. I quite like that.”
Hill won 71 caps for England, went on three British & Irish Lions tours and was the only player never dropped by England’s World Cup winning coach Sir Clive Woodward.
And his message to every youngster he spots who makes it into the England set-up is the hard work starts here and they must keep adapting like one of the greats, All Black Richie McCaw.
“The moment you think you’re the finished article, or you’ve achieved it in this environment, you’re gone,” added Hill. “Unfortunately, the game moves on. People are always looking at ways to beat the system.
“It’s not uncommon for a player to be outstanding, then all of a sudden the opposition have gone – ‘oh, cool. I quite like the look of him. We need to nullify him’. And then it is how do you reinvent yourself ?
“Look at Richie McCaw. Everyone said they knew how he played - if you think that you’d think he’d be easy to shut down then wouldn’t you?
“There were periods where probably he was quieter but then he’d find a different way of doing something. And that’s the challenge we have to put into every player.”