Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

Forget his critics - Cory Hill should be a hero for anyone who's ever held a tackle bag

By Owain Jones
Getty Images

When Luis Figo crossed the divide from Barcelona to Real Madrid, the reception on his return to the Bernabeu in El Clasico was toxic. Thousands of white handkerchiefs were raised as if Figo would have to feint and step his way away from mortal danger like a matador and the screams of ‘die Figo’ were so vitriolic, the player had to put his fingers in his ears as missiles rained down on him. In the second-half, when he was about to take a corner, coins, bottles, mobile phones, half-bricks, bicycle chains were clearly visible. In the aftermath, notoriously, a pig’s head was found.

ADVERTISEMENT

Now no one is suggesting such a poisonous reception is awaiting Cory Hill when he next trots out to face what will be his former region at Rodney Parade, but there is no doubt his departure to local rivals, the Cardiff Blues, stung the Dragons, who under Dean Ryan had been building a quiet renaissance. A curt statement, requesting “the relevant bodies look into the circumstances around the move” suggested the region, which is WRU owned, fought tooth and nail to keep the Welsh lock.

In time, their ardour will cool, but for now, like a lover spurned, his imminent departure hurts.

The point I’m making here is your true value to a club is often exemplified by your exit. If you are thrown garlands and bouquets on emptying your locker for the final time, it’s likely you haven’t made a telling impression but the disappointment voiced by fans and the club’s hierarchy of their former captain suggest they know the Cardiff Blues have secured a player who will significantly strengthen them and weaken the Men of Gwent.

Video Spacer

Mako Vunipola vs Jack Nowell | RugbyPass FIFA Pros

Video Spacer

Mako Vunipola vs Jack Nowell | RugbyPass FIFA Pros

What is unequivocal is that Hill’s standing in the game has risen like shares in video conferencing software in recent weeks. It’s a far cry from June 2017, when I witnessed Hill in his civvies moseying through customs with his close friends from Pontypridd in Queenstown airport. This after a 10-day cameo, in which the full might of the Lions circus focused their eyes on Hill as part of the ‘Geography Six’. Brian O’Driscoll, one of the untouchable Lions grandees spluttered, ‘Cory who?’ as the media savaged the ‘convenience callups’. When Hill took a pew on the pine for the game against the Hurricanes, along with Finn Russell, Allan Dell, Gareth Davies, Tomas Francis and Kristian Dacey, they looked more like condemned men that the anointed few.

From those oxygen-sapping steps at the summit of world rugby, Hill has made 25 appearances for Wales, with a none-too-shabby 76 per cent win rate. He was a co-captain with Ellis Jenkins for Wales’ tour of Argentina in 2018 and his try against England in the 2019 Grand Slam campaign marked a high point, that ironically saw him miss the rest of the season in the act of scoring the try. He had moved swiftly from incurring the chagrin of rugby fans to bathing in their adulation.

Another telling sign of Hill’s journey from Lions tackle-bag holder to one of Wales’ most important players came with the squad announcement for the World Cup to Japan. Still carrying a leg injury, Warren Gatland – not a coach renowned for doe-eyed sentiment – promptly jettisoned a prop from his squad purely to allow Hill every chance to prove his fitness.

Alas, for Hill, despite numerous hopeful press releases, any hopes of playing in his first World Cup remained unfulfilled, and so France, 2023, is the realistic aim, but the player is not counting his chickens.

ADVERTISEMENT

When interviewing him with the Welsh squad earlier this season, he said the inner-sanctum was never a place where complacency reigned. “It’s a nice place to be when you’re winning, but comfortable? No, I’m never comfortable.”

Recalling his starring role in the ‘Geography Six’, Hill was circumspect. “It was a big learning curve. I was less experienced than Finn Russell, Gareth (Davies) and Tom Francis because I’d only played a few Tests whereas they were probably knocking on the door to play anyway after a decent Six Nations. I was the unknown.”

Hill leaving Dragons
(Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

The obvious question, something this writer had also asked Gareth Davies, is whether death by a thousand Tweets, had served as a motivation in subsequent years. “I learnt a lot about myself in those 10 days when everyone was slagging me off, not saying great things about me, but I have a good family behind me and friends who keep my feet on the ground.”

ADVERTISEMENT

As for whether it toughened him up, Hill let out a toothy grin. “It didn’t toughen me up, I just tried to brush it off. It’s part and parcel of being a professional rugby player. In any other job, you get a bit of heat, but in our profession, you get the social media to go with it. With the Lions, there is massive hype and everyone becomes a rugby pundit. You have to take it on the chin and look to improve. On the upside, we learnt from great coaches and spent time with world-class players.”

Clues to Hill’s inner resolve can be found in his background. He is not a player who has always been earmarked as ‘someone destined to make it to the top’. He has had to bounce back from disappointment. A shining light as an age-grade player, who captained Wales at the U20 Junior World Cup, he had his dreams shattered a year later when he was released by his home region. At just 21, after some navel-gazing, he received a call to play at the Championship’s Moseley. He had a decision to make.

After the metaphorical tossing of a coin, he felt he had nothing to lose. It was a coming of age period for the now 28-year-old. “I was out of my comfort zone. They had the old Irish centre Kevin Maggs coaching us but we had a few Welshies up there like Ben Evans, the former Welsh tighthead prop, Mike Powell, second-row for the Ospreys and hooker Rhys Oakley, so I was fine.”

Able to develop away from the goldfish bowl that is Welsh rugby, Hill thrived in his five-month stay. “It was a semi-professional set-up. We trained Tuesday and Thursday nights and Wednesday mornings, so the Welsh boys would travel up and bunk over with Olly Robinson (now at the Cardiff Blues), and Buster Lawrence, kipping on couches. We had a good crack and I was picked up by the Dragons in the November of 2013. It was the right thing to do at the time. A step back to step forward, if you like.”

Cory Hill
Cory Hill celebrates scoring the magical team try that helped Wales beat England in 2019 (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

His return to the region that discarded him seven years ago clearly left scars. While Leigh Halfpenny and Liam Williams, both Swansea boys, may never run out in Ospreys colours after being discarded and overlooked, Hill is clearly the forgiving type. There are new coaches and players at the club but there are plenty of clues that show the secondrow’s formative years there left a lasting impression.

Indeed, while Hill claims not to be booksmart on the art of leadership, not one to gorge on management tomes in his spare time, he has clearly done a fine job of soaking up learnings from gnarled veterans along the way. “I’ve been around some fantastic captains, you know major characters. Paul Tito was one of the best ones. He was a Cardiff Blues cult hero and great with us Academy Boys. Then you look at guys like Gethin Jenkins and Martyn Williams. The Blues had a really decent squad when I was coming through.”

Hill continued his PhD in leadership at the Dragons, where he listened and learnt. “Andrew Coombs was a great leader on and off the pitch and there was Rob Sidoli. I used to go and watch Rob from the stands in Sardis Road as a kid and learnt a lot from him as a lineout caller.”

That Hill has had such a natural affinity with leadership is unsurprising. A former captain of Pontypridd schools and Cardiff U18s, he has always been drawn to the captain’s armband. “I led sides from young age; at minis and juniors and youth level and the more you grow, the more leadership you take on. As a lineout caller, you have a lot on your shoulders. You have to be a stern character and not wilt under pressure.”

Another individual to play a part in his journey was the former Wales and Pontypridd legend, Dale McIntosh, who lent a ear when he most needed it. “Chief was a mentor to me as a young kid. He was Ponty coach and I had a lot of respect for him as a person and the way he played the game. All I ever wanted to do was play for Pontypridd growing up. I actually phoned him when I was released from the Blues and he was really supportive with his advice.”

Hill’s constant battle to prove himself, has continued on the Test stage, and while at 6ft 5in and nearly 18 stone, he is no Lilliputian, he knows the international Test arena is littered with locks he looks up to. Eben Etzebeth, Brodie Retallick and James Ryan are all 6ft 8in, while RG Snyman is 6ft 9in and Devin Toner 6ft 10in. So does it bother him? “Well, you just have to jump a little bit higher”, he says, deadpan. “Seriously, there was a stage where international rugby was made for massive men, but I think it’s changed a bit. There are a lot more athletes in the game now. You have to be a lot fitter. The ball in play time is a lot longer and you get your hands on the ball more. I guess my engine is one of my strengths. You have to be very fit playing Test rugby now. You can’t be 130kgs and just plod around.”

While it’s easy for detractors to pinpoint what the Maesycoed-born lock is lacking – indeed he’s unlikely to be topping the bench press or deadlift records – along with Justin Tipuric in the backrow, he has that almost a throwback quality of being, wait for it…a very good rugby player. Multi-skilled either side of the ball, he is a superb lineout technician, has the aerobic ability to go for 80 minutes, regularly hits double-figures in his tackle-count, fashion turnovers, while his handling and carrying skills and reading of the game point to a player that would be coveted in any squad.

He is also adaptable. A more than competent blindside at regional level, and like Courtney Lawes, a second-half option at Test level, meaning the old versatility tag can be cast arrow-like at him. Hill is unruffled. “Sometimes you get that tag. Some very good boys have been bench players because they play a few positions but first and foremost I am a second row. I played at 6 for the Dragons sometimes because they wanted to get a bigger pack on the field. I see it as a feather in the cap.”

As for the step-up at Test level on his preference, he’s unequivocal. “You ask any of the boys, as long as I have the three feathers on my chest, I’d play anywhere. As long as I’m doing my bit for the team.”

The geographical move back closer to home means he’ll be getting to spend more time at his beloved Pontypridd Golf Club, and while he has had some wretched misfortune with injuries in the last 12 months, if he can hit the ground running at the Cardiff Blues next season, and stave off the attentions of Jake Ball and Will Rowlands, to partner Alun Wyn Jones for Wales, given his obvious standing with Warren Gatland, a squad place on the Lions tour to South Africa, could be grasped to complete a full circle from Wellington in 2017.

Lady luck, of course, will need to be on his side, but the suggestion, well it is no longer fanciful.

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

44 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Dean Richards set for return to rugby management Dean Richards set for return to rugby management
Search