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'I certainly think turning professional in 2019 has helped enormously'
England captain Sarah Hunter believes women’s rugby has not even “scratched the surface” in terms of how big a sport it can become.
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Hunter’s team are the global pace-setters two months out from an eagerly anticipated World Cup in New Zealand.
They top the world rankings, have won four successive Six Nations titles and are unbeaten for 23 Tests since losing to New Zealand in 2019.
Such impressive achievements help underpin England’s status as World Cup favourites as they bid to reclaim a trophy they last won eight years ago.
Hunter, a pillar of the women’s game who has won 134 caps during a 15-year international career, has been inspired by England’s stunning success at Women’s Euro 2022.
And her excitement for what the future holds is almost tangible, highlighting the Red Roses’ move to professional contracts in 2019 as a huge moment.
The Rugby Football Union, meanwhile, recently unveiled plans to invest more than £200million over a 10-year period into the domestic Premier 15s competition, with an ultimate aim of making it a fully professional league.
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“I certainly think turning professional in 2019 has helped enormously,” Hunter told the PA news agency.
“It allows that freshness. We don’t have to go back to a full-time profession outside of rugby. Our sole focus is on being a rugby player and managing that.
“On your down-time you can switch off, you can recover and get the right nutrition in, which ultimately allows you to perform better when you get on the field, whether for a game or for training.
“It allows you to spend more time doing analysis, more time developing as an individual, whatever it might be.
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“Being professional allows you to become a better player and have more time with the team and not fit everything into a weekend after going to work for a week, which is what we used to do.
“That has been such a significant change-up for us, especially since 2019.”
Hunter anticipates a fiercely competitive World Cup, which kicks off in early October with England facing pool games against Fiji, France and South Africa.
“The level has gone up, there is increased competitiveness in the game,” the 36-year-old added.
“And the really exciting thing is that I don’t think it has even scratched the surface. I think we will see in the next couple of years it going on to bigger and better things.
“Ireland have announced contracts, Scotland and Wales too, and that’s just the home nations. New Zealand already have them, the French have a hybrid system.
“Players are starting at a younger age, they are having better coaching in better environments.
“The pathway in place in England and what they are exposed to means that as they are coming through they are so talented they are adding that edge, the drive and standards that the players currently in the game need to raise to.
“It just keeps snowballing, which is what has elevated the standard of the women’s game to the next level.”
World Cup success would see England continue huge momentum for women’s sport generated by the Lionesses.
“It (winning the World Cup) is our target, and we don’t shy away from that,” Hunter said.
“It is the ambition of this squad, but there are a lot of other nations vying for that as well.
“We will put our best foot forward, and on November 12 we will see who ends up lifting the trophy.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
37 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to comments