Tuesday 6th February 2007
With no Guinness Premiership games due to international action, many players have jetted off to sunnier climes, but Michael Hills of Sale Sharks is still having to play while the sun shines. Michael is currently in San Diego with the England Sevens squad ahead of this weekend’s IRB Sevens. He says, “I have spoken to relatives back in England and they are telling me it is freezing cold with snow on the way. It is nice and sunny here but not as hot as I expected. However, I am not complaining as I don’t like playing rugby in the heat.”
Michael has three international sevens tournaments under his belt since earning his first cap in Dubai in December. Last weekend he played in Wellington where England narrowly lost in the quarter finals to New Zealand, and had to be satisfied with a Plate win. “As a team we hoped to do better but we still played well and the New Zealand game could have gone either way. At least after that disappointment, we came together as a team and made sure we won the plate so there was still a sense of achievement. It was good for team morale to have got to a final – our first of the season so far. We definitely improved as each game went on, especially on the second day.”
Sevens is used by the RFU to develop young players and Michael believes he is definitely seeing the benefits of being within the England Sevens set up. He said, “Skill level, handling wise, tackling wise and contact wise I am already improving. We concentrate on those areas, as well as game reading and understanding. Also, off the pitch it is good to get away from what you feel is the norm and doing the same kind of training. Being away for two weeks with a different set of lads, and seeing different places around the world is great. This is a very competitive environment and it makes you really focus on your rugby with no distractions.”
The crowd at the Wellington Sevens is notoriously hostile towards England but Hills reckons it wasn’t too much of a distraction. “When you are playing you don’t really focus on the crowd but you do pick up on the atmosphere. Even though they don’t like England it isn’t intimidating in any kind of way – it is more fun.”
This is Michael’s first visit to America and he is impressed by the scale of the city. “We only flew in yesterday and haven’t been into the city centre yet but you can just see how huge it is. The food is something that all the players are picking up on. For instance the sugar content in food like the bread and juice is massive compared to back home so we are all having to be very careful about what we eat and drink.”
Michael didn’t manage to watch the England Six Nations game, but he did see the highlights. He said, “It was the best performance I have seen from England in two years and that is great news for England rugby. It was good to see players like Jonny, Andy Farrell and Jason (Robinson) back involved and playing well.”
He admits that seeing the current senior England players who have played England Sevens adds to his determination to get as much out of the sevens experience as possible. “It definitely makes me want to get absolutely everything out of every tournament and training session. I speak to Magnus Lund and he says he learned a lot from his time with the squad. Seeing people like Magnus and Mathew Tait do so well is great encouragement, as you think that hopefully will be able to follow in their footsteps.”
Keep up to date with Michael and the rest of the England Sevens team at rfu.com/sevens
England play in the IRB Sevens in San Diego this weekend (10th & 11th February).
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