{"id":181250,"date":"2025-06-13T14:04:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T14:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/181250\/"},"modified":"2025-06-13T14:04:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T14:04:09","slug":"super-ted-or-superman-hills-different-game-key-for-bath-in-premiership-final-bath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/181250\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Ted or Superman? Hill\u2019s \u2018different game\u2019 key for Bath in Premiership final | Bath"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is it a bird or a plane? No, it\u2019s probably \u201cSuperTed\u201d. If Bath win this year\u2019s Premiership<\/a> final the chances are their rangy, athletic flanker Ted Hill will have played a prominent role. This week his captain, Ben Spencer, called him a \u201cfreak\u201d and various seasoned judges have compared him with illustrious former back-rowers ranging from Kieran Read and Jerome Kaino to Pierre Spies and Tom Croft.<\/p>\n

During this year\u2019s Six Nations Maro Itoje suggested similarities between the 26-year-old and \u201cCaptain America or Superman\u201d and suggested he was \u201ca man carved out of Greek stone\u201d. Bath\u2019s head coach, Johann van Graan, believes likewise. \u201cI think he\u2019s one of the best players in the league and his athletic ability is special. There\u2019s not a lot he can\u2019t do, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

So you might have expected this standout performer \u2013 even the backs agree he is the quickest member of Bath\u2019s talented squad \u2013 to have represented England on multiple occasions since his debut off the bench against Japan in 2019. In fact he has just four caps, all as a replacement and totalling 49 minutes, and has yet to start a Test after six years of national-squad involvement.<\/p>\n

Injuries and the intense competition for back-row places have both played their part but Hill\u2019s family \u2013 and particularly his mum, Jan \u2013 have long since felt their boy deserves more of a chance. As Hill says: \u201cIt\u2019s beyond fair to say they think I should have started for England before now. But that\u2019s parents, isn\u2019t it? They\u2019re my biggest supporters and seeing it from their point of view is sometimes difficult. They\u2019re always more emotional about it than I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hill\u2019s own view, with England due to tour Argentina and the United States next month, is that he is better off focusing on things he can control. \u201cI\u2019ve always been of the mindset that coaches have their opinions. Who they like, who they don\u2019t like. I feel like I do have a different game to a lot of the 6s in the country but I\u2019m in a position where there is more depth than anywhere else. That\u2019s a blessing for England but it can be a curse for an individual.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hill could not have done much more to nudge the selectors this year. He even managed to catch the incredibly swift Adam Radwan last month and pulled off another remarkable cover tackle to stop the rampaging Kalaveti Ravouvou in Bath\u2019s semi-final win over Bristol. The startled gasps from the commentary box, though, have been prompting some wry amusement in the Hill family. \u201cIt\u2019s something my mum and dad find funny. \u2018Have they only just found out that you\u2019re quick?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Maro Itoje, England\u2019s captain, said Ted Hill is \u2018made out of Greek stone\u2019. Photograph: David Rogers\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Allied to his defensive work rate and lineout ability, the former Worcester captain also has a a thoughtful side: the son of a police officer and an art teacher, he was a choirboy in Worcester Cathedral and is fascinated by history. Off the field he is not the world\u2019s fastest driver \u2013 \u201cMy missus always says to me: \u2018Why are you in the slow lane, why can\u2019t you speed up a bit?\u2019\u201d \u2013 but things are very different on the field. \u201cI\u2019ve definitely got a competitive, stubborn edge to me. I think I should be playing and involved in the England stuff. You\u2019ve got to have that confidence that you\u2019re better than this or that person. But you\u2019ve also got to have the realism to understand that sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat will be will be. If they pick me they pick me. If they don\u2019t I\u2019m not going to be sitting in the corner crying about it. Luckily I\u2019ve got great people around me. I don\u2019t necessarily have to bank on one person\u2019s opinion to make me happy. I\u2019m in a good spot with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Perhaps his time will come in the not-too-distant future given the value of versatile players who can operate as a forward or a back. As Van Graan said this week: \u201cI predict somebody will go 8-0, or 4-4, on the bench at some stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the time being, though, the 6ft 5in Hill is having to settle for burning off his mates in training \u2013 \u201cI\u2019ve been racing Alfie Barbeary but he\u2019s been having a 10-metre head start\u201d \u2013 before the big showdown with Leicester<\/a>. \u201cThe biggest thing is how quickly we can find some momentum and get that feeling where we look at each other and go: \u2018We\u2019re here now, we\u2019re in it.\u2019 When we get on that level of togetherness we feel like we\u2019re tough to beat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is it a bird or a plane? No, it\u2019s probably \u201cSuperTed\u201d. If Bath win this year\u2019s Premiership final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-181250","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114676437082452474","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}