Will didn't start in the early games last season having missed the second part of the promotion season due to his playing in Australia. Once Will was picked last season he soon became indispensable. In total Will started 14 games and appeared twice as a sub. At the end of a terrific season Will was voted Player of the Season having been voted made Man of the Match on numerous occasions. Quite simply Will had an outstanding season having an impact in every game he played in. Consistency has become his middle name ! It would seem that playing in Australia was definitely beneficial to Will's game.

When Frank Taggart and his assistant-coaches decided to pick a new Team Captain it was probably quite a short conversation. Will would be one of the first names on the Team Sheet, rarely gets subbed and is ultra consistent. He is also much respected by his team mates and is not afraid to voice his opinions on the pitch. The other thing is that once he walks onto the pitch he becomes very focused, organised and sensible. Now these might not be exactly the words that you would use to describe Will off the pitch so clearly something switches on in Will's brain once he crosses the white line ! We will come back to Will's character a little later. I believe that Will is going to make a great Captain and I am sure that everyone at the Club would like to congratulate him and wish him the best of luck.

Will is 25 years old is at a stretch six feet two inches and weighs around the hundred kg's mark having beefed up during lockdown. Will now has Gym equipment in his back garden which he and his brother Joe have been using during lockdown. Will has played 109 games and scored 12 tries for The Blues to date. That are Will's stats and there is no reason why he won't get to or close to 300 appearances if he can stay fit. Will as I am sure most readers of this will be aware is the younger brother of Joe Hoare who is 30 years old and is also a flanker with the Club. Will and Joe have had identical careers so far when it comes to Rugby and Soccer as both were exceptional goalkeepers and are both flankers now. Will tells me that Joe was a better goalkeeper than him but Joe was just a bit too short to make it as a pro footballer. Will was interesting Chelsea scouts but for one reason or another things didn't lead to a trial and Will turned his attention to Rugby. Joe had trials with Crystal Palace so Will and Joe were indeed treading similar paths. It is fair to say that for both Will and Joe Soccer's loss became The Blues gain.
When I am compiling a player's profile one of the questions I ask is " who are/where your sporting heroes?". In Will's case he said he didn't have any and I suspect that is because his big brother was his hero. Due to the five year age gap Will and Joe didn't fight like many siblings, instead Joe guided Will generally and advised and encouraged Will when it came to Soccer and Rugby.

Will was born in Hurstpierpoint and still lives there with his parents Darryl and Roz who have been regulars at home and most away games for many years and have done more than their share of chauffeuring Will and Joe. Will attended School in Cuckfield and College in Lewes. Will first played Rugby for the under fives at Haywards Heath and stayed there up to under seventeen level when he moved to Lewes and played for the under eighteen and nineteen teams as well as the First XV. He then went back to Haywards Heath to play for their First XV before joining The Blues three weeks before his nineteenth birthday so has now been with the Club for six years. Will told me that John Graham at Haywards Heath coached him for several years and was a big influence on his development. I am told that Will has an assortment on nicknames given to him by his teammates as follows: Hoarebag, Ugly, Stink and just recently Skips. No prizes for guessing which one Will prefers ! I noticed that a year or so ago Sean O'Hagen who is a good friend of Will's stated that Will was under the impression that he is a "Ladies Man". Sean is of the opinion that Will is deluded ! Just in case Will is right he has his sights set on Margot Robbie and Mila Kunis so we will see how that goes.

When I asked Will about playing in Australia he felt that the standard was slightly higher, the physicality levels were similar and the biggest difference was fitness levels throughout the team. Henry Shiel was in Oz with Will and by all accounts they had a great time including when Will won a Pole Dancing competition in his boxers! Will certainly maintained a great level of fitness last season and the only real injuries were knocks to the head, his bravery taking him to places where others might not wish to go. I gather his eyelids get split more often than a boxers and last season alone I saw Will take several severe bangs to the head . Will would take a few seconds to recover then get up quickly shake it off and get back to what he does best which in my opinion is tackling. I thought last year Will's tackling was nothing short of sensational. In the home game against Sevenoaks we led at half time and pretty much defended for the whole of the second half mainly near our line. The whole team tackled and defended magnificently but one particular tackle by Will in the corner when a try seemed certain had to be seen to be believed. Then during the last play of the game Sevenoaks finally crossed our line to a groan from Blues supporters but Will had managed to get under the ball, held up, no try and a great win for The Blues. I am told that it is no fun being tackled by Will as he tackles with his head elbows and other bony parts ! One other memory that stands out for me from last season was in the home game against Tring. Now Will has many talents on the pitch but pace is not one that particularly comes to mind. I was watching the game with Wills Dad Darryl . Will suddenly received the ball in a bit of space and took off like a scalded cat showing a real burst of pace. Darryl and I looked at each other and simultaneously said "What the **** was that? ". We eventually decided that Will's body must have been briefly occupied by an alien as it didn't happen again for the rest of the season!

So now we come back to Will's character and those who know Will well will tell you that he is kind, easy going, good natured ,intelligent and can be a sensitive soul. Another word that was mentioned more than once was stubborn which I guess is not a bad thing for a rugby player. It is also not unusual for Will to be forgetful and sometimes not fully switched on but all of that changes the minute Will walks on the pitch . Once on the pitch Will becomes focused, organised determined and to quote a teammate "A bit of an animal ". Will does however stay within the laws and plays hard but fair very rarely picking up a yellow let alone a red card.

Those of you who know Will and his Dad Darryl will know that they look alike and they also have something else in common which is that they both like a good drink! Iam told that Will is almost as good at drinking as he is at rugby. I believe that Will is not a frequent drinker but that when with his teammates he will go for it which has led to many a funny moment and a teammate whose name shall not be mentioned has shared a few of those with me. Back in 2016 on a coach on the way to the Bournemouth Sevens one of the players decided it would be amusing to lace Wills drink with a Viagra tablet. I gather Will felt a bit weird for a while but when he knew what had happened took it in good spirits and played along. You could say that it was a bit hard on Will. Another time at a Sevens competition the boys were camping and Will and Henry decided that it would be fun to lock Jordan out of the tent that he was sharing with Will with Henry taking his place. The tent was locked but Jordan managed to open it, drag Will out by his feet and leave him out in the open. Will was so hammered that he was still fast asleep out in the open in the morning. Another time Will Trevis and Jordan (sorry Jordan ) had been out for a few drinks and went back to the flat they were sharing . Will disappeared for a bit and chucked up on the balcony upstairs but said nothing when he came downstairs. Trevis not knowing what had happened stood in Will's puke later on and was not amused. The next morning Jordan and Trevis worked out what had happened and heard Will in the shower. They got their belts and gave Will a whipping in the shower with Will begging for mercy. I think you can still see this on Youtube. All good fun and I am sure that now Will has been made Captain he will give up alcohol, not.

Well good luck again to Will and the team this season which hopefully will get under way sooner rather than later. In the meantime I wish you all the very best of luck and health.

Written By Steve Powell