The 206-second attack that has turned Geography Six outcast Cory Hill into a household name
Cory Hill has climbed a mountain these past 20 months, journeying from anonymity to becoming an England Grand Slam killer who is now suddenly a household name to anyone following the compelling drama of the 2019 Six Nations.
It’s been some journey, emerging from the almighty stink in geothermal Rotorua for daring to temporarily join up with the 2017 Lions to adding the finishing touch to Wales’ sublime lead-taking, 35-phase try in Cardiff on Saturday. No wonder he celebrated with a bellowing fist-pumping roar to the crowd before leaving the scene of where he dotted the ball down.
It was firmly one in the eye for the desultory English media who had led the charge in ridiculing Hill and the other five parachuted-in players who made up the notorious Geography Six chosen as mid-tour Lions cover due to their proximity to New Zealand.
When he landed in fresh from a low-key win over Tonga in Auckland, eyebrows were raised in bemusement that a lock who had only started twice for Wales was suddenly rubbing shoulders with the elite of British and Irish rugby.
Making the “Cory Who” story all the more outrageous was the fact that he had been released in 2012 by Cardiff and had to prove himself at Kevin Maggs’ Moseley in the English Championship to save his career and earn a contact at the Dragons.
Now, after what seems a lifetime battling in the shadows for proper recognition, the 27-year-old will be remembered as the lock whose try secured the lead in the pulsating win over England that has put Warren Gatland’s team in the history books as the first from Wales to win a dozen Test matches in succession.
It was fitting that Hill was the scorer as it was his 11th appearance in the record winning streak (only sub hooker Elliot Dee has a similar number of caps), and the multi-layered story about how he came to touch down on the right hand side with the clock showing 67:26 will live in the memory of every Wales fan as it rounded off the complete team move.
All 15 Welsh players handled the ball during the spell-binding 206-second attack that began on their own 10-metre line and finished up over the English try line.
Fourteen players carried to the 34 rucks, scrum-half Gareth Davies – another of the criticised Geography Six – the only one who didn’t go to ground and set up a recycle. Davies, though, was heavily active as the busiest of the half-dozen Welsh passers of a ball that was passed 28 times during the scintillating move ignited by a sloppy English error.
In total, there were four minutes and five seconds of non-stop action between the ball being kicked off at the halfway line by Dan Biggar on 63:19 following Owen Farrell’s successful penalty kick for a 13-9 advantage and it being touched down for Hill’s try.
After 34 draining phases, @coryhill_ put Wales into the lead for the first time with a stunning line off Dan Biggar's quick ball ??#ENGvWAL #GuinnessSixNations pic.twitter.com/LiJAVBa8Pg
— Guinness Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) February 23, 2019
What will infuriate England is they twice had the ball and didn’t best look after before the Welsh conjured their breathless 35-phase play. A box-kick clearance from the 22 on 63:39 by Ben Youngs was caught by Biggar near the Wales 10-metre line. Liam Williams then handled before skipper Alun Wyn Jones threw a high pass that was intercepted by Jack Nowell.
England, though, retained the ball for just 11 seconds as Youngs’ pass from the ensuing ruck bounced away from Mark Wilson, who was distracted by Josh Navidi. Davies gathered with the clock exactly on 64:00 and what followed was a magical three-minute 26-second sweep that ended with the game-changing score that exhilarated the capacity Principality Stadium crowd.
The 34 phases in between Davies gathering and Hill crashing over were exhaustingly marvellous, one of the finest passages of Six Nations play ever knitted together by any team. It left England punch-drunk and bereft of a response.
Hadleigh Parkes made the greatest number of metres in the drive, the centre carrying in the move’s embryonic stage to take play from the Welsh 10-metre line to near the England 22 where he was double-tackled by Manu Tuilagi and Jonny May.
HIGHLIGHTS: WAL 21-13 ENG
Sit back and enjoy three minutes of thrilling action as Wales went top of the #GuinnessSixNations table #WALvENG pic.twitter.com/lCu3c0w8GM
— Guinness Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) February 23, 2019
It took Wales three more phases to edge into the 22, replacement prop Dillon Lewis rolling on the ground to get in there. A gripping game of inches then developed, another 13 phases being required before George North took play to the five-metre line after skipper Jones demonstrated brilliant athleticism with a one-handed pick-up followed by three rolls on the ground and excellent ball presentation.
Another 13 breakdowns were necessary before England were prompted to infringe, referee Jaco Peyper signalling a penalty advantage for offside prior to Jonathan Davies getting double-tackled in the centre of the pitch by Courtney Lawes and Tom Curry.
Wales now cut loose, flinging the ball wide to the left for two more rucks before they switched swiftly to the right. It was Biggar’s long pass to North, who for depth took the ball at full pelt nearly back on the 22-metre line, that caught the English cold.
Five white shirts were sucked into defending North’s ruck in the right hand corner before Biggar’s popped pass invited Hill to evade the tackles of Billy Vunipola and Harry Williams to dive over the line and spark pandemonium. Cory Who had inspiringly made his mark.
WHO DID WHAT IN THE MULTI-PHASE MOVE THAT BURIED ENGLAND
THE 14 RUCK MEN 5 carries to the breakdown – Nicky Smith, Ross Moriarty; 4 – George North, Ken Owens; 3 – Cory Hill, Alun Wyn Jones; 2 – Dillon Lewis, Josh Navidi; 1 – Liam Williams, Jonathan Davies, Hadleigh Parkes, Josh Adams, Dan Biggar, Justin Tipuric.
THE HALF-DOZEN PASSERS 22 passes – Gareth Davies; 2 – Dan Biggar; 1 – Josh Adams, Ken Owens, Cory Hill, Justin Tipuric.
Comments on RugbyPass
A wallaby front-row of Bell, Blake and Tupou…now that would be hefty
1 Go to comments“But with an exceptional pass accuracy rating “ Which apart from Roigard is not a feature of any of the other 9s in NZ. Kind of basic for a Black 9 dont.you. think? Yet we keep seeing FC and TJ being rated ahead of him? Weird if it’s seen as vital to get our backline beating in your face defences.
1 Go to commentsThanks BeeMc! Looks like many teams need extra time to settle from the quadrennial northern migration. I think generally the quality of the Rugby has held up. Fiji has been fantastic and fun to watch
13 Go to commentsLets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
11 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
10 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
11 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
24 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
10 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
35 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
35 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
17 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to comments