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NikosCC · 10-24-2009, 02:31 AM

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Hill attended the grammar school Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury and went on to gain early prominence as a schools international. He graduated from the West London Institute of Higher Education (now Brunel University) in Sports Science and Geography, in the mid 1990s, by which time he had already joined Saracens.

Hill made his England debut in the 1997 Five Nations Championship against Scotland, playing at openside flanker. He was selected ahead of Neil Back, who was controversially ignored by the England team for that period. He toured South Africa with the victorious British and Irish Lions in the summer of 1997, gaining two caps.

Under new coach Clive Woodward in 1998, Hill was initially selected at openside, but was moved to blindside flanker to accommodate Neil Back on the openside flank, Lawrence Dallaglio moving from blindside to number eight. It was as a part of this triumvirate that Hill gained most of his caps.

Richard Hill was part of the England squad for the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup. During the opening game of the English campaign, against Georgia, he picked up a hamstring injury in the 50th minute. His absence for the remaining pool games against South Africa, Samoa and the quarter-final against Wales was pinpointed as a major factor as to why England looked far from the world-beaters they would eventually become.

He was in the starting line-up for the semi-final against France when England easily coped with the French and Hill played a key role in helping England defeat Australia in the final.

When Back retired in 2003, Hill switched back to the openside flanker role, remaining the only player never to have been dropped during Sir Clive Woodward's England tenure due to his prolific work in the rucks and mauls.

Hill injured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in a match against London Irish on 3 October 2004, and underwent surgery on 6 October 2004. He was out for the following seven months, but returned to be named in a Lions touring squad for the third time in 2005. He was named in the starting fifteen for the first Lions Test against the All Blacks, but suffered a knee injury during the first half, ending his tour.

In January 2008 he announced that he would retire at the end of the current Guinness Premiership season, due to the toll taken upon his knee since his two injuries - he now walks with a permanent limp. However, in April 2008, his man-of-the-match performance in the Heineken Cup victory over Ospreys confirmed his continued ability to perform at the highest level, even when playing on almost one leg.

On May 11, 2008, Hill played his last game for Saracens with a 25-20 win over Bristol, having nearly taken Saracens to a Heineken Cup Final two weeks prior. He bowed out of the game as quietly-spoken as he had stayed for his fifteen-year career.

Source-Planet Rugby | Rugby Union News | The greatest: Blindside flanker