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'Then you're in the wrong place': Sarah Hunter urges England to play without fear
England captain Sarah Hunter vowed the Red Roses will play “without fear” when they challenge holders New Zealand for the World Cup trophy on Saturday.
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The showpiece between the world’s top two nations is poised to break an attendance record, with over 40,000 ticket-holders expected to descend on Auckland’s sold-out Eden Park.
History is on the line for both sides in the rematch of the 2017 final. A loss would see number-one ranked England snap a 30-game Test win streak, the most of any men’s or women’s international side, while the Black Ferns are seeking a record sixth title and their first on home soil.
“I just think there’s that real sense of wanting to be together and about what this group want to go and do on Saturday, and just go in and play without fear,” said number eight Hunter.
“There’s things in life you don’t get to do very often, and very few people get to do, and that’s to play in a World Cup final.
“For people just to be themselves and to enjoy it – if you don’t enjoy playing in the biggest occasions then you’re in the wrong place.
“We just want people to be in that, and just go enjoy themselves, play without fear, without what the pressure of what will be because there’s one thing for sure: we’ve seen with this group that whatever they do in games they’ll put their best version out.
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“We’ll be as best as we can be, we’ll give it everything. In sport things don’t always go your way, but we’ll look back and know we have done everything we can do on Saturday, regardless of the result, and we can be proud of that.”
England head coach Simon Middleton has made five changes to the line-up that beat Canada in the semi-final.
Helena Rowland sustained a foot injury in that match and will be replaced by Harlequins’ Ellie Kildunne at full-back, while her club team-mate Vickii Cornborough gets the nod at loose-head prop following a knee injury to Hannah Botterman in training last week.
“(Botterman) has been amazing, how she’s supported the team,” said Middleton. “As soon as she had the injury she knew she wasn’t going to take any further part, and it was like, ‘What can I do?’’
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Middleton has also elected to start Holly Aitchison at inside centre in place of Tatyana Heard, who is among the substitutes.
Claudia MacDonald also begins on the bench with Abby Dow making the switch from right to left wing, while Lydia Thompson returns on the right.
While the hosts are set to enjoy unprecedented support, Middleton believes the electric atmosphere at Eden Park could actually better serve his squad.
“I don’t think it will be (intimidating),” he said. “I honestly don’t think it will. You can look at it in two ways: I think it will be more intimidating for New Zealand.
“To lose in front of your home crowd is a tough gig. So the pressure on them is absolutely massive.
“We said right at the start, the opportunity that the competition gave us is exactly the opportunity that’s now in front of us. Very rarely in life do you get an opportunity to be the best you can be or try and achieve the ultimate and test yourself.
“We’re really fortunate that we’ve now got that scenario. That’s why we’re looking forward to it so much.”
England: E Kildunne (Harlequins), L Thompson (University of Worcester Warriors), E Scarratt (Loughborough Lightning), H Aitchison (Saracens), A Dow (Wasps), Z Harrison (Saracens), L Infante (Saracens), V Cornborough (Harlequins), A Cokayne (Harlequins), S Bern (Bristol Bears), Z Aldcroft (Gloucester-Hartpury), A Ward (Bristol Bears), A Matthews (Gloucester-Hartpury), M Packer (Saracens), S Hunter (Loughborough Lightning, captain)
Replacements: L Davies (Bristol Bears), M Muir (Gloucester-Hartpury), S Brown (Harlequins), C O’Donnell (Loughborough Lightning), P Cleall (Saracens), S Kabeya (Loughborough Lightning), C MacDonald (Exeter Chiefs), T Heard (Gloucester-Hartpury)
Comments on RugbyPass
It 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.
1 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.)
2 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.
28 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 commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to comments