‘Not sure I’ll ever fully heal’: Natasha Hunt seeks Rugby World Cup redemption

The scrum-half was devastated to not be selected in 2022, but says the experience made her a better player

“Who knows if I would be sitting here going for the next one if I had reached that Rugby World Cup,” says the Red Roses scrum-half Natasha “Mo” Hunt on her bid to be a part of England’s squad to compete in a home World Cup in 2025 after her heartbreak of missing out in 2022.

Hunt is a central player to John Mitchell’s squad with less than a year to go until the tournament kicks off on 22 August. England only have two competitions until the big event: the WXV 1, starting later this month, and the Women’s Six Nations. The Red Roses face two of their biggest rivals to start the countdown with friendlies against France, being played on Saturday, and New Zealand the following week.

All of the preparations are a foundation from which to try to win the trophy that has eluded them since 2014. England have reached the final in both Rugby World Cups since then but have lost on both occasions to New Zealand. Hunt says there has been an extra bite to pre-season because of her awareness of next year’s World Cup. The prospect of playing in the home event is a driving motivation, but Hunt is not getting too far ahead of herself.

“I think the excitement around the squad, of the fact that we can do something pretty massive this summer if we get everything right and if we attack it, is really, really cool,” Hunt says. “England rugby are taking the games to many different stadiums and obviously the final game at Twickenham will be pretty epic, hoping to get that as a sell-out for the first time for a women’s game. There’s a lot of cool stuff happening in the women’s game at the minute, things I never thought would happen in my lifetime of playing.

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