What a difference three years makes: Mo Hunt on 'emotional' World Cup selection

Natasha ‘Mo’ Hunt’s journey to a third Women’s Rugby World Cup has been much longer than she ever expected.

A World Cup winner in 2014 and starting scrum-half in the 2017 final at the tournament in Ireland, the 36-year-old’s Red Rose‘s future was uncertain three years ago when she was not selected for the 2021 tournament in New Zealand.

But what a difference three years makes.

Less than a year later she was named the (then-called) Premier 15s Player of the Year for her title-winning exploits with Gloucester Hartpury and made her return to Test rugby in the 2023 TikTok Women’s Six Nations before cementing herself as John Mitchell’s starting half-back.

“Quite emotional,” Hunt, when asked about her recall, said. “It was probably one of the most difficult times last time.

“We were reminiscing the other day when Zoe (Aldcroft) and her husband picked up Taty (Tatyana Heard) from our house and we were just crying as they left for the last World Cup.

“It’s amazing to be part of it. The only thing I have ever wanted is to be there to fight with the girls. It has always been about being with the girls. Being able to be there and compete with them.”

That relationship with Mitchell has fostered with Hunt has unlocked something in the three-time Premiership Women’s Rugby winner.

Since his arrival as Simon Middleton’s successor at the end of 2023, Mitchell’s mantra has been one of mindset and becoming the best rugby team possible.

Now a whopping 25 matches unbeaten, their last loss being their Rugby World Cup final loss in 2022, the number one ranked side in the world have become a more formidable force.

That shift could prove to be the difference between a heart-wrenching ‘nearly’ moment or being crowned world champions for the first time in 11 years.

For Hunt that shift has helped her excel thanks to a head coach that empowers his players to be the best version of themselves.

“I think he (Mitchell) understands me so much as a person,” Hunt said.

“I’ll only speak from my experience, but the first time I met him he pretty much pulled me aside into a corridor and said, why are you in your own head? I trust you. I just want you to go out and do your thing.

“That moment for me meant so much because of everything that had gone before.

“The difficulty is, I’ve always wanted to be the best I can be, and I’ve always been somebody that held myself back and just tried to be safe in what I am doing.

“He’s just given me the freedom and confidence to go out and do it, which he has done for most of the squad.

“For me, that is something I am really, really grateful for. I think he’s led us incredibly well.”

In the coming weeks England will play final warm-up matches against Spain and France, before starting their World Cup campaign against the USA at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland.

For the next month every move the Red Roses make will be analysed closely. Being a favourite has its privileges, but winning is the only barometer that the side will ultimately be measured by.

Hunt is one of four players in Mitchell’s 2025 World Cup squad that have had success in the tournament before.

Along with Alex Matthews, Marlie Packer and Emily Scarratt, Hunt was a World Cup champion in 2014.

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Now the last of that squad that beat Canada in Paris, that experience is a commodity which can lend itself well to the Red Roses cause this year. Although the recency bias of consecutive losses to the Black Ferns at the final hurdle have overshadowed that success.

“You can’t shy away from any experience,” Hunt said. “We all know in sport that you learn more from your losses than your wins, they’re the ones that you analyse and scrutinise a lot more than your wins.

“But we have to be where our feet are. We need to make sure that we’re living in the moment through this World Cup, because the most dangerous thing is that we get carried away about what’s coming, and we miss what’s right in front of us.

“It’s the cliché; one game at a time. We need to make sure that we’re right in it from the start.”