Richard Hill (flanker)

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Richard Hill
Full name	Richard Anthony Hill
Date of birth	1973-05-23
Place of birth	Dormansland, Surrey, England
Height	1.87 m
Weight	101 kg
Rugby union career
Position	flanker
Professional clubs
1993-	Saracens
correct as of 13 Sept 2006.
National team(s)		Caps	(points)
1997- 1997,2001,2005	England British and Irish Lions	71 5	(60) (0)
correct as of 13 Sept 2006.

Richard Hill MBE (born in Surrey 23 May 1973) is a rugby union footballer who plays flanker for Saracens and England.

Often portrayed as the 'silent assassin' at both club and international level, his effective and abrasive style of forward play has made him legendary in rugby union circles. Big hits, shrewd driving and energy-sapping support play, are all features of his exceptionally well-rounded game which makes him one of the most highly rated flankers of his era^{[citation needed]}.

He has a namesake, Richard John Hill, who played for England at scrum half between 1984 and 1992.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Playing career 2.1 Early years 2.2 2003 Rugby World Cup 2.3 The present 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Early life

Hill attended Bishop Wordsworth's Grammar School in Salisbury. He went on to gain early prominence as a schools international. It is coincidental that his namesake had also attended the same school. He graduated from the West London Institute of Higher Education (now Brunel University) in Sports Science and Geography, in the mid 1990s.

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Early years

He made his first Saracens appearance in 1993.

Hill made his England debut in the 1997 Five Nations Championship against Scotland, playing at openside flanker. He was selected ahead of Neil Back, who was controversially ignored by the England team for that period. He toured South Africa with the British Lions in the summer of 1997, gaining two caps.

He missed Saracens’ Tetley’s Bitter Cup victory in 1998 with a back injury.

Under new coach Clive Woodward, Hill was initially selected at openside, but was moved to blindside flanker to accommodate Neil Back on the openside flank, Lawrence Dallaglio moving from blindside to number eight. It was in this position, with this combination of players, that Hill gained most of his caps.

He is known for being very much the grey man, almost invisible on the pitch, but statistics show that he is one of the most important contributors to the back row when he was missing with injury^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] 2003 Rugby World Cup

Richard Hill was part of the England squad for the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup. During the opening game of the English campaign, against Georgia, he picked up a hamstring injury in the 50th minute ^[1].

His absence for the remaining pool games against South Africa, Samoa and the quarter final against Wales was pinpointed as a major factor as to why England looked far from the world beaters they would eventually become^{[citation needed]}.

He was in the starting line up for the semi-final against France. England easily coped with the much-vaunted^{[citation needed]} French back-row. Hill played a key role in helping England defeat Australia in the final.

[edit] The present

Since Neil Back's retirement in 2003, Hill has switched back to the openside flanker role. He is the only player never to have been dropped during Sir Clive Woodward's England tenure, due to his prolific work in the rucks and mauls.

Hill injured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in a match against London Irish on 3 October 2004, and underwent surgery on 6 October 2004. He was out for the following seven months^[2], but returned to be named in a Lions touring squad for the third time in 2005. He was named in the starting fifteen for the first Lions Test against the All Blacks, but suffered a knee injury during the first half, ending his tour.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Rugby Heroes
• Profile at scrum.com