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McKinley Hunt: 'We are not thinking much beyond Scotland next week'
By Joe Harvey at Salford Community Stadium, Salford
McKinley Hunt maintained that Canada are taking things one game at a time after her side secured a 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final slot.
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The loosehead prop scored two tries on Saturday afternoon as her side beat Wales 42-0 at Salford Community Stadium.
It was an imperfect performance from Kévin Rouet’s side, who turned the ball over to their opponents on 27 occasions over the course of 80 minutes, but still managed to register tries through Alysha Corrigan, Asia Hogan-Rochester, Taylor Perry and Brittany Kassil.
Canada will wrap up their Pool B exertions next weekend in Exeter. Taking on Scotland at Sandy Park, both sides will be gunning for top spot and a potentially less strenuous route to the semi-finals.
Knowing that their place in knockout rugby is secure, all that is on the Canadians’ minds is their next 80 minutes on the pitch.
“We are really not focused on what we have managed to do by getting to that quarter-final,” Hunt said.
“Yes, we’ve ticked a box now, but at the end of the day we are not thinking much beyond Scotland next week.
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“We control our own destiny, so we are focusing on what we can control, fixing the small errors we had and using it as a stepping stone.”
There was no denial from anyone in the Canada camp that their performance against Wales was imperfect.
The team weathered an early Wales storm as Sean Lynn’s side passionately tried to make amends for their 38-8 loss to Scotland a week prior.
Hunt’s first score of the game largely put any Welsh hopes of an upset to bed, but to have handed the ball back to their opponents almost 30 times and still not concede a point is nothing short of remarkable and another bonus for a Canada side with lofty ambitions.
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“Obviously we don’t want those errors, but it is positive that we can have those errors and still have the momentum and still put dominant points on the opposition and not allow them to score,” she said.
“If we think about controlling what we can control, and taking those errors away, we are in a pretty good place to build from that into the next games.”
In the opening two weeks of the Rugby World Cup, Canada have underlined their title credentials.
Dominant wins over Wales and Fiji have seen the side score 107 points and concede just seven.
Next weekend in Devon will offer a sterner test for Hunt and her teammates as they look to secure top spot in their group before progression to the quarter-finals.
Noise around the North Americans is sure to grow as thoughts slowly drift toward a Twickenham Stadium final with every passing day.
Canada have made no secret of their own World Cup ambitions in recent months.
Even so Hunt was keen to maintain that neither she or her teammates are getting ahead of themselves a fortnight in.
“Within our camp we are all really positive about what we have got going on,” Hunt said.
“We are not really concerned about the narratives that exist outside of us. We feel great and we are just taking this one game at a time and ultimately where we end up is where we end up. But right now, we feel good.”