Sarah Hunter: 'As England captain, I have goals I want to reach'
With 130 England caps and counting, Red Rose captain Sarah Hunter has seen the England team and support around it grow in the 14 years since making her debut. Now the 36-year-old wants to see the club game develop in the same way, and believes her side’s partnership with Northampton Saints adds another piece to the larger puzzle in achieving this.
This Saturday, Loughborough Lightning will play their first match at Franklin’s Gardens as part of a double header with Saints, in a first since the two clubs announced their partnership back in September 2021.
Currently nine of the ten Premier 15s teams are officially linked with a men’s Premiership club and Hunter believes for the time being at least, that joining forces is a great way to move a club forwards.
“I think it does help to have that association with a Premiership side,” said the Loughborough player-coach. “Where the domestic game is at currently, we need that support of existing Premiership teams which have the infrastructure and fan base to elevate the women’s game.
“They’ve already got a natural fan base and it doesn’t have to be done the same as the men, we’re our own sport and we do things differently, however, there’s an audience and market alongside the men’s game that already exists and we’ve seen some very successful double headers such as Harlequins’ Big Game and the crowds at Sandy Park, where it really works to have that platform. It’s a really good way to grow the domestic game and our profiles which can only be a positive thing.”
?@LightningRugby double-header?
Gallagher Premier – ?@SaintsRugby vs. Sale Sharks, KO 3pm
Women’s Allianz Premier 15s – ??@LightningRugby vs. Exeter Chiefs, KO 5:15pmWatch the action:
?Tickets – https://t.co/IlmXdhmvAQ
?More content via @LightningRugby channels pic.twitter.com/muDg97aRz3— Loughborough Sport (@LboroSport) February 16, 2022
Despite having experienced England and Scotland players in their ranks, as well as internationals from overseas, Loughborough struggled at the beginning of the season, languishing in eighth after the first few rounds. However, the team have managed to overcome their drop off in performance to pull themselves to sixth and within a realistic shot of the play-offs.
“We had a pretty difficult start to the season, the nature of the fixtures we played, our first three matches were against the top three sides from last year and we had significant injuries to key players as well as having our Scotland contingent away on World Cup qualifying duty so we were pretty thin on the ground.
“It was challenging but it did galvanise us and gel us together, which is the sign of a good team and we’ve hopefully come out the other side. We’ve put a string of results together and won crucial games at crucial moments which at the start of the season we just weren’t doing.
“We’ve kept ourselves in the fight for that top four spot, we’re confident about where we’ve come but we’re under no illusions of the challenge we’re going to face, starting this week against Exeter.”
Was such a great day! Thanks for having me. So good to see so many girls their having fun ? https://t.co/ToKIV6TgoJ
— Sarah Hunter (@sarah_hunter8) February 16, 2022
Back in November, Lightning lost a close match to Saturday’s opposition Exeter who currently occupy fourth spot, and as Loughborough Lightning usually play their home games on the university sports campus without established stands or seating areas, it’s all to play for this Saturday in Saints’ 15,200 seater stadium, in front of a packed-out crowd.
“I had the fortunate opportunity to play at Franklin’s Gardens in the autumn with England against New Zealand and the atmosphere was brilliant, the pitch is amazing. To be part of a double header with a side like Northampton with their history in English rugby and be in a partnership with them is exciting.
“I have a feeling it’ll be quite a close one on Saturday, two teams vying for that top four space and both on an upward curve, so it’ll hopefully be an exciting one for the neutral.”
The top tier of the women’s English league appears to be in a strong place in only its fifth season since being rebranded (with one season abandoned due to the pandemic).
England’s national side are also going from strength to strength winning 18 of their last matches, being three time back-to-back Six Nations champions and beating world champions New Zealand convincingly in two Tests over the Autumn. However, sterner tests await in the form of the World Cup this October, which Hunter admits, is never far from her mind.
“People would probably be lying if they said it wasn’t in the back of their mind, it’s a World Cup year and ultimately that’s the end goal, to perform and go to New Zealand, be the best you can be and win a World Cup.”
With such an important year ahead and younger players snapping at her heels for the starting number eight jersey, Hunter explains what goals she sets for herself in the pursuit of being a better player.
“Before a game I have goals I want to reach or focus points, so when I’m reviewing the game back from a personal point of view I can look to see if I’ve achieved what I’ve set out to achieve, and know what I’m going to work on in training the following week.
“I’ll usually break it down into three goals: One for attack, one for defence and one around the break down. Other pointers may be around using my footwork when I’m carrying to break the tackle rather than just running into people or thinking I want three dominant collisions or three turnovers, but it’s generally more technical. These sort of things allow me to know, regardless of how the team has played, what I have to improve on and review.”
With Hunter nearing the end of her playing career, the 2016 World Player of the Year has previously indicated that coaching is the path she’s looking to go down when she retires.
“Coaching makes you think differently about the game and understand why decisions are made and has grown me as a person and a player. It’s something I’m really enjoying at Loughborough but I feel like I haven’t really given it the time it deserves as my focus is still on playing. I’d really like to see where my coaching goes and when I finish playing that is probably the natural route to begin with.
“I may find that it might not work for me full time and I go down a different route, but I’d like the opportunity to see what I can do in the coaching area and where it takes me. I think I’ll stay in rugby, that’s for sure, I don’t think I could leave it after all this time!”
To buy tickets for Loughborough Lightning v Exeter Chiefs Women at Franklin’s Gardens this Saturday, please click here.
Comments on RugbyPass
I think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
5 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
5 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
5 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
33 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to commentsThis is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?
35 Go to commentsWow, didn’t realise there was such apathy to URC in SA, or by Champions Cup teams. Just read Nick’s article on Crusaders, are Sharks a similar circumstance? I think SA rugby has been far more balanced than NZs, no?
2 Go to commentsBut here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.
33 Go to commentsIt could be coincidental or prescient that the All Blacks most dominant period under Steve Hansen was when the Crusaders had their least successful period under Todd Blackadder and then the positions reversed when Razor took over the Crusaders.
33 Go to commentsDefinitely sound read everybodyexpects immediate results these days, I don't think any team would travel well at all having lost three of the most important game changers in the game,compiled with the massive injury list they are now carrying, good to see a different more in depth perspective of a coaches history.
3 Go to commentsSinckler is a really big loss for English rugby.
2 Go to commentsThanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause
33 Go to commentsNo way. If you are trying to picture New Zealand rugby with an All Blacks mindset, there have been two factors instrumental to the decline of NZ rugby to date. Those are the horror that the Blues have become and, probably more so, the fixture that the Crusaders became. I don’t think it was healthy to have one team so dominant for so long, both for lack of proper representation of players from outside that environment and on the over reliance on players from within it. If you are another international side, like Ireland for example, sure. You can copy paste something succinct from one level to the next and experience a huge increase in standards, but ultimately you will not be maximizing it, which is what you need to perform to the level the ABs do. Added to that is the apathy that develops in the whole game as a result of one sides dominance. NZ, Super, and Championship rugby should all experience a boom as a result of things balancing out. That said, there is a lot of bad news happening in NZ rugby recently, and I’m not sure the game can be handled well enough here to postpone the always-there feeling of inevitable decline of rugby.
33 Go to commentsNo SA supporter miss Super Rugby - a product that is experiencing significant head wind in ANZ - the competition from rival codes are intense, match attendance figures are at a historical low and the negativity of commentators such as Kirwan and Wilson have accelerated the downward spiral in NZ. After the next RWC in 2027 sponsors will follow Qantas and start leaving in droves.
2 Go to commentsLike others, I am not seeing the connection between this edition of the Crusaders and the All Blacks future prospects under Razor. I think the analysis of the Crusaders attack recently is helpful because Razor and his coaching team used to be able to slot new guys in to their systems and see them succeed. Several of Razor’s coaches are still there so it would be surprising if the current attack and set piece has been overhauled to a great extent - but based on that analysis, it may have been. Whether it is too many new guys due to injuries or retirement or a failure of current Crusaders systems is the main question to be answered imo. It doesn’t seem relevant for the ABs.
33 Go to commentsharry potter is set in stone. he creates stability and finishes well. exactly what schmidt likes. he’s the ben smith of australian rugby. i think it could quite easily be potter toole and kellaway for the foreseeable future.
5 Go to commentsThis is short sighted from Clayton if you ask me, smacks of too much preseason planning and no adaptability. What if DMac is out for a must win match, are they still only going to bring their best first five and playmaker on late in the game? Trusting the game to someone who wasn’t even part of planning (they would have had Trask pinned in as Jacomb preseason). Perhaps if the Crusaders were better they would not have done this, but either way imo you take this opportunity to play a guy you might need starting in a final rather than having their 12th game getting comfortable coming off the bench.
1 Go to comments