On a day of record-breaking, England’s comeback man Chris Hill made his own but insisted: “I don’t have to prove anything.”
The veteran Huddersfield prop surpassed former front-row colleague James Graham in becoming his country’s most capped World Cup player with 14. Ruthless England ran in 17 tries against minnows Greece as they rattled up their biggest ever tournament win, eclipsing the 76-4 rout of Russia in 2000. It means they topped Group A and are now likely to face Papua New Guinea in Saturday’s quarter-final at Wigan.
But Hill was a shock inclusion in Shaun Wane’s World Cup squad with many people believing his international days were over. He turns 35 on Thursday and had not been involved in any of Wane’s line-ups before this autumn. Hill also missed a big chunk of the season with a serious calf injury suffered in Huddersfield’s Challenge Cup final loss against Wigan.
