By James Standley

Perry has been in great form as Bristol started the season with a bang

Bristol boss Richard Hill has compared scrum-half Shaun Perry to Cardiff and Wales great Terry Holmes.

Perry, 28, is knocking on the door for England selection in November after a fine start to the season.

Hill told BBC Sport: "Perry is one of the best all-round scrum-halves I've seen for a long, long while.

"The closest I can come to it in all-round terms is Terry Holmes, who I used to play against - a fantastic player who could do everything."

Holmes won 25 Wales caps and also represented the Lions before crossing codes and playing rugby league for Bradford Northern.

"You look at certain players and they have certain strengths and weaknesses but, like Terry, Shaun has got all-round strength," said Hill, who won 29 caps for England as a scrum-half.

"He still needs refining and I think all areas of his game will need to be improved over the next 12 months, but he is one of the best all-round scrum-halves I have ever come across."

What Shaun produced against Wasps was an international performance without any doubt whatsoever Bristol boss Richard Hill

Bristol number nine Perry, a former welder, has come a long way in a short time.

Just two years ago he was playing for Coventry in Division One but after impressing in his debut Premiership season last campaign he has really caught the eye in Bristol's unbeaten start to the season which has taken them to the top of the table.

He impressed for England A in the spring but was forced to miss England's summer tour of Australia because of injury and has yet to make his full debut.

Perry is competing with the likes of Peter Richards and Harry Ellis for the scrum-half berth in the four November internationals and Hill has no doubt he has what it takes to succeed on the biggest stage of all.

"He played exceptionally well against Wasps last weekend in front of Andy Robinson and John Wells, who were in the crowd, so it was a great time to do it," said Hill.

"What Shaun produced against Wasps was an international performance without any doubt whatsoever.

SCRUM V VIEW I hope people aren't expecting too much of Perry too soon. I'm a big fan of his BP Scrum V: Have your say

"It was very mature, good communication, he kicked well at the right times, certainly was a threat around the fringes, he had a hand in all four tries and his defensive cover-tackling was outstanding as well.

"I don't know if he'll get picked or not but he's got to stand a good chance of certainly being in the 22 for the first one."

Unlike the vast majority of the England squad, who have been part of the England system since junior levels, Perry has had to fight his way out of the trenches.

He started his career with junior club Dudley Kingswinford before moving on to Coventry, and Hill admitted he had passed up the chance to sign Perry earlier in his career.

"When we were in Division One we played against Coventry a couple of times and there was one lad that stood out in that Coventry side and that was Shaun Perry - he really did stand out," said Hill.

"I'd been alerted to him before by Tony Lanaway, who was the England Students manager - I was the England Students coach.

Holmes coached Cardiff after retiring

"Tony was connected with Dudley Kingswinford, which is a club in Wolverhampton, who Shaun played for for several seasons - he came through the colts.

"Tony said: 'This young lad is outstanding, you ought to have a look at him.'

"Foolishly I had ignored him for a couple of years. I thought: 'Scrum-half from Dudley Kingswinford, yeah right, OK Tony, we'll believe you.'

"But suddenly this lad moved from Dudley Kingswinford to Coventry and I watched him over two seasons.

"He was very good in the first year and in the second year he was absolutely outstanding.

"He made the jump from Dudley Kingswinford to Coventry very easily, and in my view could make that step from Coventry to the Premiership.

"We didn't know that for certain but I just stuck him in for the first game against Bath last season and he never looked back."

Looking forward, international selection seems to be on the horizon for Perry and Hill, for one, has no doubt his rapidly-improving number nine has the ability to go all the way.