FLYING flanker Ted Hill is determined to push himself to “more uncomfortable” places this season to ensure he remains in the reckoning for club and country.

The homegrown star produced a man-of-the-match display in Worcester Warriors’ Premiership Cup thrashing of Leicester Tigers at Sixways last weekend.

His surging runs led to three of Warriors’ eight tries in the 57-23 victory as Hill picked up from where he left off after a stellar 2018-19 campaign.

However, with only one game under his belt, the 20-year-old firmly believes he is “nowhere near” close to hitting his top speed yet as he gears up for the Gallagher Premiership.“It was the first blow out which was always going to be tough,” said Hill who will start on the bench at Bath on Saturday (3pm).

“I was pleased with the first performance, but I can’t linger on it for too long.

“Personally, I want to get myself involved in the game as much as possible as I feel like I have a good amount to offer.

“I’m nowhere near 100 per cent but luckily we have a nice block of cup games to really build into the Premiership.

“Hopefully when it comes to it and I am given an opportunity I will be pushing a good percentage by then.”

After visiting Bath, Warriors host Exeter Chiefs next Friday and then travel to Coventry to face Wasps on Saturday, October 12 – seven days before the Premiership starts.

“These games are massively important as it just gives everyone an opportunity to get a bit of game-time so when it comes to the Premiership it won’t feel like it’s just piled on top of you and you’re thinking ‘It’s all coming too fast’,” Hill said.

“Solly (Alan Solomons, director of rugby) is seeing these as warm-up games going into the Premiership as we obviously don’t have any set ones (friendlies) this year.

“But everyone wants to do as well as they can, so no one is not going to take the competition seriously.

“We are all getting to know each other really well off the field which is key to gelling on it.”

Hill burst onto the scene last season, scoring two tries in a memorable top-flight debut at Leicester in September before going on to make 25 more appearances in blue and gold.

The 6ft 4in forward also won his first senior England cap at the age of 19 when he came off the bench against Japan at Twickenham in November.

But Hill has identified many areas he needs to improve in a bid to stay in Warriors’ starting line-up and gain further international recognition.

“It was my first opportunity with the (England) seniors last year and I was very honoured to be a part of it,” Hill said.

“But this is a new season, so there will be new challenges ahead and I will be pushing as hard as I can to hopefully be given a chance this year. In this environment you don’t want to become satisfied with just a basic standard, you want to keep pushing yourself to make yourself uncomfortable.

“Yes, I do feel more comfortable around the guys but I am trying to push myself to be a bit more uncomfortable to make myself get better.”

Asked what specific areas he is keen to work on, Hill added: “For me it is about my decision-making under pressure.

“So when someone is flying up at me or when I’m going up in defence I need to be able to make the best decision at that time.

“All the other stuff like speed, agility and lineout work are big focuses for me as well.”