Some people will go to remarkable lengths to pursue their sporting goals.

Teenage rugby player Will Hilton (pictured) has travelled more than 11,500 miles for his – to New Zealand’s South Island, to be exact.

The developing fly-half has swapped his ME13 Selling postcode for an address in the Addington suburb of Christchurch where he is playing fly-half for Marist Albion’s under-21 side.

Hilton, the son of Canterbury Rugby Club chairman Giles, wanted to develop his rugby in the land of the All Blacks and used his association with Canterbury’s former Kiwi forward Rowan O’Gorman to make it happen.

O’Gorman spent three seasons at Merton Lane from 2005 to 2008.

Within a day of arriving in New Zealand in March, Hilton was training with Marist.

The under-21 team started by winning two of their first four games but have since lost four out of five, drawing the other.

Hilton, who was a key member of Canterbury’s own development squad last season, said: "It’s hard to compare the standards (between England and New Zealand) because I’ve not really played under-21 rugby before.

"You get some big boys here but the physicality is no different to playing in the development team at home.

"They definitely do run with the ball more here and in a way they don’t like you to kick the ball as much. They favour the running game rather than the tactical game."

Hilton will return home next month and train pre-season with Canterbury before looking for a team in and around Oxford where he starts a four-year sandwich course at Brookes University.