Hill return delights rivals

By Tony Curtis  

Hill return delights rivals

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The return of England flanker Richard Hill was met with delight from the coaching staff of both Saracens and London Wasps on Friday.

Having spent 16 months battling against a serious knee injury, Hill finally returned to first-team action with a try in Saracens' 26-15 EDF Cup win over Wasps.

And despite seeing his side crash out of the competition, Wasps director of rugby Ian McGeechan said: "It's good to see Hill back. He is a great player and it's good to see him make a full recovery when he had such a bad injury."

Sarries backs coach Richard Graham, who also saw Ben Russell score a try and Thomas Castaignede add 16 points with the boot in the victory, was delighted with the influence Hill brought to the team.

He said: "Overall it was an outstanding team performance.

"There were some fantastic individual performances from some of the young guys and they have really given us something to think about for selection next week.

"It was great to see Hilly back and Paul Gustard leading the team. Thomas Castaignede showed his usual full box of tricks and had a 100 per cent kicking record."

Despite fielding a weakened side, Wasps scored tries through Tom Voyce (2) and Joe Ward - and McGeechan was pleased with the way his team performed.

He added: "Overall I'm pretty pleased. We got some good tries in some horrendous conditions.

"In rugby terms I was pleased with the youngsters. They were not intimidated at all.

"I thought they were good on the ball and they manufactured all three tries so in that respect it is very encouraging."