St Helens R.F.C. has secured the signature of promising young utility back Daniel Hill from Widnes Vikings on a two-year deal.
Hill, 19, can play at full back, in the centres and on the wing. He scored on his Widnes debut in their Betfred Challenge Cup defeat to Salford Red Devils earlier this season and has gone on to make a total of six first team appearances for the Vikings before unfortunately missing the end of the season due to injury.
The youngster was born in Warrington and began playing rugby with Newton Storm before moving on to Halton Farnworth Hornets in the Under-12 age group. From there, he joined the Vikings’ Scholarship programme.
In 2020, Hill was also a key member of the club’s Reserves squad and has picked up representative honours with Lancashire Under-18s and gained selection for the National Performance Squad.
🙌🏻 A debut try for Daniel Hill!
Brought to you by @BSMNissanWidnes.#COYV🏁 pic.twitter.com/gWAuYj8fUr
— Widnes Vikings (@WidnesRL) April 12, 2021
On signing for Saints, Hill said: “I am over the moon to sign for Saints. I want to thank everyone at Widnes who have helped me over the past six years, including all the coaches and the players.
“I am now looking forward to the new challenge of moving back into a full-time environment and learning off the best players in the league which will hopefully improve my game.
“I know I need to work hard and hopefully I will get my chance to show what I can do.”
Head Coach Kristian Woolf added: “He is a guy we see with enormous potential. That was shown by the fact a number of clubs were interested in taking him on.
“Full back is his position at the moment, but we see him as a guy with some physical attributes that can be a first-grade player in the future and could also transition and potentially play some centre or even some wing.
“He is a young guy who could play a number of positions for us and get his first grade experience that way – a bit like Jack Welsby has done and we are very excited about how he develops in our system.”
Hill will hope to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Alex Walmsley, James Bentley, Joe Batchelor and Dan Norman who have all been recruited from the Championship and have progressed to make first team appearances for the Club.
