England Under 20s

Will Hooley

Key Facts

Squad	Northampton Saints
Position	Fly Half
Age	19
Height	1.85m (6'1")
Weight	84kg (13st 3lb)
Caps	U20: 2

“An amazing feeling” is the way that Will Hooley describes the England U16 win by 26-25 over Italy U17 at the Stadio Flaminio in April 2010. He said: “I was a replacement coming on after half time and managed to land all my kicks including converting the last try in the final seconds to bring our victory.

“Winning at Twickenham with my schoolmates from the Leys in the Daily Mail U15 Vase and scoring 12 points was also pretty incredible.” Cambridge-born Will studied geography, history, classical civilisation and theology at the Leys School in his home city and is a member of the Northampton Saints Academy. He joined Cambridge RFC on loan in January this year.

He was initially educated at St John’s College School, Cambridge and played for Cambridge RFC through the mini and youth age groups from 1998-2008. Will first went there at the age of five before a host of representative honours took him towards his first call to the England U18 squad in September 2010.

His conversion and penalty goal contributed to his winning debut against Ireland at Donnybrook that December and Will landed four conversions against Italy U19 two months later. He added the goal points to all three tries against Scotland that March and put over another three conversions when playing off the bench against Wales in April.

Appearances for Cambridgeshire in 2007-08 and Eastern Counties prefaced selection for London and England U16, U18, U19 and U20, for whom he has played twice this year. Will continued: “My guiding lights at Northampton are now Alan Dickens and Mark Hopley and my previous ones there were Simon Sinclair, Grant Seely and Ali Hepher. Liam Copley organised me for three years at school and John Fletcher not only mentored me in the U18 squad but also helped me outside the England set-up. I have also been lucky enough to get coaching from Jon Callard.”

Other famous names have helped him along the way, including Jonny Wilkinson. Will added: “When I was 11, I was selected to train with him and appeared in ‘Jonny’s Hotshots’, his ten-part BBC series in which ten young rugby fans learned the skills of the game. I also admire Dan Carter.

“I would obviously like to be the best I can and play for a Premiership club and the senior England team. Outside the game, I should like to study for a degree. I have a conditional offer to study geography at Durham University.”

Will also played cricket for Cambridgeshire from U10 to U15 level, earning U13 trials for the South of England along the way. His father, Professor Richard Hooley appeared for Waterloo and is chairman of Cambridge University RFC, for whom he played in the past.