TED HILL
Frustrated captain demands a lot better from beleaguered Warriors
FRUSTRATED captain Ted Hill demands Worcester improve their discipline to halt a run of six successive Premiership defeats.
Only four points gained from January’s cancelled game against Harlequins have kept Warriors off the bottom and in all bar one of seven league matches played, they have lost the penalty count to gift opponents an advantage.
Last week at Leicester, 13 penalties conceded enabled the home side to score four close-range tries.
Reflecting on that 41-24 loss in which Tigers’ forwards bagged five tries in all, Hill told TRP: “Our maul defence was nowhere near the standard we set but the first thing we must address is not letting teams there in the first place.
“Our general indiscipline is what helped Leicester and it’s been a recurrent theme in our games that’s been going against us quite a lot.
“You look at Exeter, Leicester and other teams that have big mauls and are effective in that area and you just can’t give them opportunities. Your discipline in the middlethird is vital to preventing them getting that ‘gold zone’ attack going.
“We’ve seen good things in our game but everything comes back to discipline. When it comes to critical moments it doesn’t matter how good you’ve been for 70-75 minutes, if your discipline is poor, you’re not going to win any games.”
With Wasps harbouring demons of their own after successive home losses to Harlequins and Northampton, Worcester have an opportunity to lay down a marker with three of their next four matches at home.
Hill said: “We’ve set out our stall to be really strong at home and, as we showed against Exeter a couple of weeks ago, it’s a tough place to come.
“Wasps are not a side to hold back and everyone knows the attacking threat they bring, but we’re really looking to kick on with a top performance. We want to go out and show our fans and the people watching that we’re improving.”
As the Premiership’s youngest captain, local boy Hill, 21, insists he is enjoying the job despite the additional pressure on his youthful shoulders: “It’s definitely been a learning curve, but it’s been good and there are other experienced people to offer me sound advice.
“I’m someone who will stew over a bad result and think about what I could have done better, but I also try and put that quickly behind me and move on because you’ve got to take the emotion out of it.
“Jonathan Thomas, our head coach, is very good at dialling things down and looking at what we’ve done well and building on that.
“We haven’t had the results we’d have liked, but the captaincy has been a great experience and with new coaches here, it’s a very exciting time.”
As for his own form, Hill knows he must go some if he is to challenge for England places. He added: “I’m doing okay but I don’t think I’m playing my best rugby and that means getting my hands on the ball more.
“I don’t think I’ve been playing badly but I’ve definitely got a lot more to give and I want to show that, especially in attack where I can do more in terms of my offloading game, which will hopefully help the team here move forward.”