Hill confident Warriors can climb into top six
WORCESTER flanker Ted Hill believes a positive mindset and clinical finishing can help bury Newcastle and rekindle his side’s top six ambitions.
Last weekend’s dramatic late win over Leicester, allied to Newcastle’s defeat at Exeter, means Warriors go into today’s critical encounter nine points ahead of Falcons, for whom this is a must-win game if they are to boost their chances of Premiership survival.
Tyro Hill, who made his England debut last autumn, told The Rugby
Paper: “It was a very good win over Leicester but one of the most pleasing things is we got the result but knew we could play so much better.
“We could have finished off a lot more chances and polished them off earlier.
“We seem to be specialists in late victories at the moment but we don’t want to do that too often.
“We have shown we are an 80-minute team, there’s no problem there, but we need to start going in at half-time with a lead, not playing catch-up.”
Hill insists Worcester are gazing up the table not down, adding: “We’re massively focussed on ourselves and know it’s a big game for both sides.
“It’s do or die for them so they’ll want a really good performance, but we’re also going in with a mindset we must win, not just to get away from the bottom but to pressure the teams above.
“We want to be pushing Bristol and Leicester and all the teams above them. We set high standards at the start of the year and want to make the top six, so we need to be more clinical with the ball, score more tries and really finish teams off.”
By his own admission, Hill, 19, has exceeded all his pre-season targets, racking up ten Premiership appearances and featuring in the Challenge Cup while appearing for England U20s and even winning a first senior cap against Japan in November.
“I’m really enjoying it,” he said. “At the start of the season I set out to get as much game time as I could and I’ve been really happy that this seems to be happening. I’m just trying to make sure I’m learning and improving with each game.”
As for the chances of further England caps, he adds: “Eddie Jones spoke to me at the start of the Six Nations with the U20s and he just wants me to keep pushing for a Premiership spot at Worcester, keep improving and try to impress.
“I’ve been involved in the U20s as well and look forward to doing that again when my club commitments allow. It’s been an amazing season for me in many respects and I’m just looking to push on and show people what I can do.”