Chris Hill Ready to Represent in Front of Home Crowd

Experienced prop Chris Hill will edge closer to the all-time England appearance record when he runs out for his country at the John Smith’s Stadium on Saturday.

Hill returns to the club he plies his trade for in Betfred Super League to take on Tonga in the second game of their historic three games series. 

England returned to 2023 Super League Champions Wigan Warriors’ training complex, Robin Park, on Wednesday, to prepare for Saturday’s test match.

And Hill, who is third in the all-time England appearance standings behind Ryan Hall and James Graham, admitted there’s plenty of improvement to come from England despite their impressive opening test win. 

“I think a few of the boys are still sore today,” Hill admitted. 

“The first game was good; it was a bit clunky at times, but we’ll learn a lot from that. We’ll do the review and look to improve on that this coming week.

“There’s another couple of tough days to get going again. It’s a short turnaround - but same for both - and hopefully a bit of drier pitch up at Huddersfield.”

Hill joined Huddersfield in 2022 after 10 successful years at Warrington where he won multiple Challenge Cups, a League Leaders’ Shield and narrowly missed out twice on Grand Final glory. 

As well as his domestic successes, Hill has been a mainstay in the international setup for over a decade – including the last three World Cups. 

“I’ve played there [Huddersfield] before at a packed house when we played Ireland in the 2013 World Cup. It’s an unbelievable stadium, it brings a good atmosphere and it should be a better track there this week. All the boys are ready and raring to go.

“It could be a series win on Saturday. They’ll [Tonga] come out firing, they’ll want to make it one all and we want to take the win. It should be a very interesting game. Obviously, we both looked at each other last week – they’ll be doing video on us and we’ll be doing video on them, so it’ll be an interesting tie.”

“They would’ve learned a lot about us – probably a few unknowns like Mikey [Lewis], they probably didn’t know too much about him, so they’ll know a lot more about him now. I thought he was unbelievable. It’ll be interesting to see and we’re ready to go.”

Hill is one of the most senior members of the England squad and brings knowledge and experience to the group. And despite being in the twilight of his glittering career, he’s still just as keen to pull on the famous England jersey.

“I think it’s only my dad who keeps tabs on my caps! It’s good to get as many as possible and that’s what I’ve always strived for. I want to play for my country as many times as I can. I’m not so bothered where I finish up in the table caps wise, but it’s nice to get as many as possible and hopefully another one this week.”

Tickets for the Saturday’s match at Huddersfield’s John Smith’s Stadium, and for game three of the series at Headingley Stadium, Leeds, are on sale now at eticketing.co.uk/rugbyleague from only £25 Adults and £12.50 Under 16s. The latter is a double-header featuring England Women versus Wales.