'He's an incredible athlete': 112kg forward named the fastest at Bath

Despite having the likes of Will Muir and Joe Cokanasiga on their books, Sam Underhill has said that his back-row team-mate Ted Hill is the fastest player at Bath.

The England flanker made this revelation on a recent episode of For the Love of Rugby, where he was tasked with building his perfect back-row player. When asked who the fastest flanker is, he had no hesitation in picking his team-mate for club and country, who is equally comfortable in the second-row.

“Ted Hill is so quick,” Underhill said when asked by Dan Cole, before adding: “I think he’s the quickest player at Bath. I think he has the quickest top speed at Bath.”

Ben Youngs added: “I’m almost not surprised. He’s an incredible athlete.”

Fixture

Challenge Cup

Bath

37 - 12

Full-time

Lyon

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Underhill, who will start alongside Hill in the Challenge Cup final against Lyon on Friday, replied: “When you get your GPS and your top speed and your percentage of your top speed, you’ll see Ted’s and you’ll be like ‘Ted only ran 80 per cent today’ and it’s pretty much your top speed. It’s silly.”

While it seems strange that a forward could hold the mantle of being the fastest at a club, particularly a 112kg forward, this should come as no surprise to Bath fans, who have witnessed the 26-year-old produce some scorching carries over the past few seasons.

That title could soon be rivalled by Henry Arundell, who will arrive in the West Country from Racing 92 over the summer.

Despite such athletic prowess, Hill has struggled to win over England boss Steve Borthwick, who only granted a handful of minutes from the bench during this year’s Guinness Six Nations. There is, of course, more to rugby than being quick, but the lock is not exactly lacking in other areas of his game either.

The four-cap international’s Test fortunes may change over the next few months, however, with England set to face Argentina and the USA in July without Tom Curry, Ben Earl and Henry Pollock in the back-row (and even hybrid lock Ollie Chessum), who have all been selected for the British and Irish Lions. The door is open for Hill to add to his haul of caps.