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Sale's verdict on Jonny Hill's form ahead of his Borthwick meet-up
Sale have shared their thoughts on the prospects of Jonny Hill potentially getting back in Steve Borthwick’s England squad for the upcoming Guinness Six Nations. Their 2022 second row signing from Exeter was a regular for his country when he arrived in Manchester, but his fortunes have been different since Eddie Jones relinquished the reins.
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Hill went from being a selection favourite who started all four of last November’s Autumn Nations Series games to the squad fringes and his only cap in 2023 was off the bench in the Summer Nations Series opener away to Wales, a 34-minute run that was followed two days later by the official confirmation that he hadn’t made the cut for the Rugby World Cup.
The 29-year-old continued to train with England as cover for the rehabilitating Ollie Chessum, but he eventually went to back Sale rather than go to France as the young Leicester lock made good his comeback, carrying on to play on all seven of the games the English played in the finals campaign that culminated in a bronze medal finish.
That non-selection isn’t the end of the line for Hill with Borthwick’s England, though. Rather than name a squad to assemble for mini-camps ahead of the Six Nations, which starts with a February 3 game in Rome, the head coach has altered the approach and is instead visiting the training grounds of all 10 Gallagher Premiership clubs and teams in France such as Henry Arundell’s Racing to keep tabs not only on the players who featured at France 2023 but also those on the fringes.
This tactic will see Borthwick meet with eight Sale players – including Hill – next Tuesday at Carrington, and Sharks director of rugby Alex Sanderson likes this idea of Borthwick coming and visiting a wider group of players rather than the club sending a smaller group down the country to an England squad mini-camp.
“What they used to do was have a couple of days at a camp, which was agreed to, and they would go away for two days, usually on a Monday and Tuesday. They would be beaten up on a Monday anyway so they wouldn’t be able to do anything, and they’d miss the Tuesday sessions and it would be really adverse on any team’s prep, the whole country’s prep because every team has got two or three lads in there.
“Now what they are doing to spend more quality time with the players is going to where those players live and spending an afternoon with those players, just one afternoon twice, and going through their games with them, their prospects and what they have got to do I guess to get into that squad and they will be able to spend more time with more players over that afternoon.
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“It’s brilliant for us because it means was can arrange our training day around when they are not meeting with Steve. He asked me what my thoughts were and I said that’s brilliant, these dates are good and we talked about these players and more but these are the guys he has flagged up to come and have a chat too.
“This will be nationwide. There will be lots more (players talked to) than what he is able to select in a squad to get a feel for the people that they are. It’s really smart, I think.”
Hill will meet Borthwick along with Manu Tuilagi, Ben Curry, Tom Curry, Bevan Rodd, George Ford, Joe Carpenter and Tom Roebuck and he will go into that gathering with the praise of Sanderson ringing in his ears due to his influential play in his six starts in a season where Sale lead the Premiership after seven rounds ahead of Friday’s trip to Harlequins.
“He has actually played better in the last few games than he has at any time for us, for Sale. He has had to reframe what his drivers are and his plan for the next four years because what used to motivate him isn’t there in terms of the next World Cup potentially.
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“He will probably be too old for that although he might disagree. He has a meeting with Steve Borthwick on Tuesday, as have seven other of our players, so there is still light there for him to play international rugby and he is playing to the standard that would indicate that he is capable.”
What were the conversations Sanderson had after Hill learned he was surplus to World Cup requirements with England? “We spoke about the importance of having to reframe, but I actually left it to someone else in this department.
“We spoke rugby, me and Jonny, and how he applies himself in the week and for his longer-term goals and understanding the whole of him, which is quite important for Jonny. He is quite a likable fella and I don’t think he wants to let me in to that degree.
“We have got Wayne Hoyle in-house, he was here on Tuesday, an ex-SAS commander, and he is part of this mental skills programme we put together by way of mentoring. He looks after senior players, four or five come under his remit, and Callum Clark looks after some very junior players, four or five.
“Then we pick up the rest of the squad and we will apply those mentors or more if we think they need extra help so this is just part of it. Rather than have one sports psych, we are putting four or five people in different areas.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why is this dude getting so much coverage? Usually knobs like this get cancelled.
2 Go to commentsWow. What was that? A 3 million word meandering article about what exactly?
1 Go to commentsNice piece of writing. And yes the Sharks pulled a rabbit from the hat and were a little lucky with that penalty try that wasn’t given… however the Sharks (with their resources) should be way more consistent and should be putting teams like Claremont away for breakfast. I expect more from them and hope they kick on now.
8 Go to commentsJust what the Sharks needed to get things going in the right direction Defence on the outside really creates havoc for the whole team and needs to be addressed.
8 Go to commentsWell done guys both teams will be ready to play knockout rugby.
1 Go to commentsSurprised that Ramos isn't starting at 15. But what a squad of galacticos!
2 Go to commentsWhy is it a snub? What journalistic garbage is that? Sure the guy is a great player, but there are plenty of loose forwards and not all of them can be Springboks. Also, I know of no-one who doubts Rassie’s judgment. South Africa has a conveyor belt of loose forwards that just keeps producing, so the competition is intense. I certainly wish him well, but there is no entitlement and there is no snub.
17 Go to commentsSkelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
6 Go to commentsSpot on Ben. Dead right. Havili looked great at 10. Easily the highest rugby IQ of any NZ player these days. Getting a kick charged down is a result of getting used to adjusting your depth to the line at 10, which he will sort out with time. But other than that it was an outstanding first effort in that position this year. I think the NZ media has misunderstood this directive from Razor. Havili might rank behind B Barrett this year, but Beuden is 33 this month and won't last much longer. DMaC is great but flaky and not really a test match animal (his efforts in Dunedin versus Aus last year for example). If Razor can't have Mounga, DMaC is too unstructured for Razor (and is just too small for test rugby). Havili will end up our first choice first five, and in partnership with Jodie will be excellent. Two triple threat operators in tandem, and big bodies and tough tacklers to boot. Jordoe will be the ABs goal kicker. I am an Aucklander and Blues (and Warriors) fan, but Havili at 10 is going to be sensational in time… he can be the best first five in the world by the end of this year. No question.
6 Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
8 Go to commentsGood riddance
1 Go to commentswel the crusaders were beaten by a queensland reds side that hadnt beaten them at home since 1999 and queensland reds partied like it was 1999
6 Go to commentsHard to disagree with the 5 points - with the exception that Wilson should be a squad member but, depending on the other loose forward selections, is not yet a shoo-in. McReight is. Aussie is looking a lot better this year and JS has some selection options. Also, Havili’s tendency to get caught, charged down is also a liability at times but he seemed focused (mostly) and is definitely a consideration for utility back-up. Still feel Reihana is a better prospect at 1st five for Saders.
6 Go to commentsYeah nah, still not sure on Havili tbh. Even though I’m a Crusaders fan through and through I’d be stunned if Razor considers him after seeing some of the stunning talent coming through up North.
6 Go to commentsThink it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
1 Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
8 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
8 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
8 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
8 Go to comments