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'He’s a supreme athlete. He looks like Captain America or Superman'
By PA
England captain Maro Itoje hopes to close out Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations showdown with Scotland alongside “a man carved out of Greek stone” in Ted Hill.
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The Bath forward, who won the second of his two international caps in the summer of 2021, has been elevated to Steve Borthwick’s bench for the Calcutta Cup contest due to George Martin’s knee injury.
With Hill waiting in the wings, Itoje will begin the crunch Twickenham clash in a second-row partnership with Ollie Chessum.
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The 30-year-old Saracens lock was part of the England team when Hill made his international debut against Japan in 2018 and is looking forward to another potential link-up.
“I’m very, very happy for Ted; he’s a player I’ve admired for a number of years, seeing him do his thing at Worcester and then at Bath,” said Itoje.
“He’s a supreme athlete. He looks like Captain America or Superman, especially with his glasses. He’s a man carved out of Greek stone.
“I am very happy that I hopefully get an opportunity to play with him.”
England remain in the title hunt after bouncing back from an opening defeat to reigning champions Ireland by beating France 26-25.
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Martin emerged as a doubt following the round-two victory and, having initially dropped to the bench to be replaced by Chessum, was ruled out entirely on Thursday afternoon, presenting an opportunity to 25-year-old Hill.
Attack coach Richard Wigglesworth, who confirmed Martin’s issue was an impact injury rather than anything structural, said of Hill: “He’s an incredible athlete, not only quick across the ground, but quick in the air, line-out time.
“He’s got a different set of super strengths to George Martin but we’ll expect him to bring the best of himself when he comes on. I don’t want him to play like anyone else. I want the best of Ted.”
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Rivals Scotland have been boosted by the availability of key man Finn Russell.
The Bath fly-half will start at Allianz Stadium after satisfying concussion protocols following a nasty collision with team-mate Darcy Graham, who remains sidelined, in the first half of his country’s loss to Ireland on February 9.
Itoje is wary of the dangers posed by a playmaker he lined up with during the 2021 British and Irish Lions tour but knows the Scots, who have won the last four meetings between the nations, pose plenty of other threats.
“Finn is obviously a good player, we all know he’s a good player and he requires a certain amount of attention,” said Itoje.
“Just with France, same with Scotland, you can’t focus on any one player. Rugby is, in my opinion, the greatest team game there is and no one can do it all by themselves.
“Whilst we need to make him have a bad day at the office, we also have to pay respect to their back row, wingers, tight five, his inside back partners.
“They have a number of threats throughout their team. They’re all good players and play rugby at a high level. We need to have a consistent approach through the whole game.”
On Wednesday, it was confirmed wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso will miss the entire championship after being ruled out for a minimum of three months following surgery on a dislocated shoulder.
The 22-year-old’s club Exeter said he suffered a “reinjury” in the England camp, having initially opted not to have an operation after sustaining the problem just before Christmas.
“We needed to make sure he was going to be right so he got tested properly here, significantly tested, and it wasn’t right so the surgery option then came,” said Wigglesworth.
“It wasn’t that close that you were planning to have him in. You knew there were all these hurdles that he was going to have to get over and he failed at one, a fair bit away from returning to play.”
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