Ted Hill appointed youngest-ever Worcester skipper at just the age of 21

England prospect Ted Hill is after leaping through the ranks at Worcester, coach Alan Solomons deciding to appoint the 21-year-old as club captain ahead of next month’s Gallagher Premiership restart.

Capped by Eddie Jones versus Japan in November 2018, Hill has become one of the Warriors’ most consistent performers and he has now succeeded GJ van Velze as club skipper. 

Hill’s appointment is part of a revised strategy which sees centre Will Butler become assistant club captain and New Zealand hooker Matt Moulds serve as team captain. 

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Explaining the new Worcester leadership player group headed by Hill, Solomons said: “The appointment of Ted and Will as club captain and assistant club captain respectively accords with our vision for our young Worcester lads to form the core of our team.

“They are both homegrown players who have come through our academy and it’s fantastic to see them rise to leadership positions. Ted has developed into a terrific player who has the full respect of our whole squad. He is a young lad who has a massive future in the game. He will lead as he plays – from the front.

? "Central to our vision has been home-grown academy lads. Ted and Will have outstanding leadership qualities."

Alan Solomons explains his new captaincy appointments. pic.twitter.com/uAXGM9Sps8

— Worcester Warriors (@WorcsWarriors) July 15, 2020

“Will is a natural leader who has captained England age-grade teams. He and Ted complement one another and I really look forward to working with them as we take the club forward. Matt is an outstanding leader and experienced team captain who has led Northland to an ITM Cup final.

“He has also had the benefit of coming through the prestigious Canterbury Crusaders academy. He is a salt-of-the-earth character who has settled in well here at Sixways. His leadership will add huge value to the team and I look forward to us working together as we seek to progress the team.”

A product of Malvern RFC, Hill scored two tries on his Gallagher Premiership debut against Leicester Tigers at Sixways in September 2018 and was capped by England as a Twickenham replacement two months later.

Having recently committed himself to a long-term Warriors contract, Hill said about the captaincy: “It’s a massive honour. It’s your local club, your childhood club and it’s an honour to be picked for that role.

“Alan rang me up and gave me the reasons. It was very exciting as soon as he let me know and a really good moment. We have so many leaders around and so many people who do such an excellent job when it comes to leadership that I didn’t really see it coming so it was a good surprise.

“Me and Will were in the leadership group together so we have got a little bit of experience around what that takes. With people like GJ, Chris Pennell, Niall Annett and Marco Mama we have been surrounded by good people and so we have learnt off them and how they hold the team accountable.

“When the season resumes, with new coaches and new players coming in, we want to finish off by driving standards within the group and everyone is accountable for those standards. Everyone needs to drive those standards themselves and push each other on rather than one individual doing that.”