JOHN Brain believes Chris Hall has made massive strides this season for Worcester Rugby Club.

The Sixways director of rugby has been delighted with the former Gloucester man's contribution in the National One campaign, particularly as fellow hooker Chris Pearson has been ruled out for most of the season with a broken wrist.

Hall played on with a troublesome chest injury for a number of weeks because of Pearson's absence and Brain, before today's clash at Rugby Lions, paid tribute to the 23-year-old.

"Chris Hall is one of the most improved players in the squad," said Brain.

"He has remodelled his throwing in action, his set play is good. He's quick, skilful and his attitude to professional rugby has improved a lot.

"He's had a lot of pressure on his shoulders because of Chris Pearson's injury and we could have been struggling if he hadn't stood up to it as well as he has.

"Chris has been a very consistent player for Worcester this season and has been instrumental in our lineout functioning well in the past three months.

"We've certainly seen a big improvement in Chris and the way the lineout has come along."

Brain cites Hall and Tony Windo as his forwards of the season but has a lot of sympathy, in the wake of Worcester's defeat to Rotherham, for Dan Zaltzman and Christian Evans.

"The likes of Dan and Christian have been around the club for a while now," added Brain.

"They have worked tirelessly to try and win promotion for the club. They deserve to be going up after the amount of effort they've put in. They've given it their all."