It is a quiet midweek afternoon on the outskirts of Bristol and, up to now, Natasha \u201cMo\u201d Hunt has been her normal upbeat self. England\u2019s scrum\u2011half has been discussing any number of topics, from her love of rugby\u2019s tactical nuances to her croissant\u2011loving fans, with the easy confidence of someone relishing every second of this Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n
Her sparkly eyed positivity is such that it\u2019s easy to forget she has had to escape the heart of darkness to be here. Three years ago, on the eve of the last World Cup, Hunt was axed from the Red Roses squad and big knockout games such as Saturday\u2019s semi-final against France now mean that little bit more. \u201cWhen you get hurt that bad it\u2019s never going to go away,\u201d she says softly. \u201cYou\u2019re always going to have a little scar.\u201d<\/p>\n
It says everything about the 36-year-old\u2019s competitive nature that she believes the \u201cheartbreak\u201d has actually helped to prolong her career. \u201cYou can either roll over or come back fighting \u2026 those were my two options. \u2018Am I done? They don\u2019t want me any more \u2026 am I finished?\u2019 I decided I wasn\u2019t done and had so much more to give. I\u2019m really glad I chose that path. It was really tough at the time but it\u2019s definitely made me a better player, a better coach and a better teammate.\u201d<\/p>\n
How England ever felt they could do without their feisty No 9 remains baffling. Last weekend in the Ashton Gate rain<\/a> she looked as fit and alert as ever, albeit behind an ascendant pack of forwards. The huddle microphones constantly catch her exhorting teammates to run straight and stay focused. England, simply put, look a happier team when she\u2019s around.<\/p>\n Hunt has always been the energetic type from her earliest days racing her big sister, Emma, back home from the school bus in the Forest of Dean. Once her height became a drawback in netball \u2013 \u201cI had England trials but I was always too short\u201d \u2013 the fresh canvas of rugby proved the ideal outlet. \u201cI absolutely adore the tactical element of rugby. I think anticipating the game is probably one of my biggest strengths. Reading the opposition\u2019s body language, working out what they\u2019re trying to achieve and looking to stop that happening \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Having played for England since 2011 and shared in their 2014 World Cup triumph<\/a>, she has also seen the transformation of the women\u2019s game first-hand. \u201cThe biggest thing I remember about 2014 is that we had four-day turnarounds. It was just mental. The whole tournament was done in about two and a half weeks and we were straight back to work on our return.\u201d<\/p>\n Mo Hunt\u2019s England take on France in the Rugby World Cup semi-final on Saturday. Photograph: Craig Brough\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n Eighty-six caps and two Olympic Games later, few are better placed to appreciate just how much has subsequently changed. \u201cWhen I first started the Olympics weren\u2019t an option and England were playing in front of 100 people at Esher. I don\u2019t think I could ever have envisaged what it is now. That\u2019s why it means so much. You genuinely savour every moment because I didn\u2019t think in my lifetime the game would be where it is now. I feel so lucky still to be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n These days, with Hunt an increasingly recognisable face on television and social media, it has reached the point where fans queue up to give her presents after games. Breakfast pastries have also become unlikely offerings since her great mate Emily Scarratt announced on their podcast that she wouldn\u2019t swap her match jersey for two croissants but might be tempted by five.<\/p>\n At heart, though, Hunt has never been in it for the glitz or the gifts. \u201cIt\u2019s never been a glamorous sport for me. I remember games at Lichfield where the hailstones falling on us were like golf balls. Or playing on the back pitches at Clifton after the boys had already churned them up. But when you\u2019re \u2018mud monsters\u2019 it bonds you even more with the girls around you. We\u2019re all there thinking: \u2018What are we doing?\u2019 but there\u2019s so much shared joy.\u201d<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week’s action reviewed<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Two more wins and the Red Roses could generate a whole new level of patriotic euphoria. The pressure is rising but, more broadly, women\u2019s rugby has already won. \u201cWe knew coming in there was a huge opportunity to take women\u2019s rugby to another level but I don\u2019t think any of us quite expected the reality of what that could look like if we got it right.<\/p>\n \u201cThe last group of pool games in Northampton were a sell-out without any of the home nations playing. That\u2019s just a remarkable achievement. What\u2019s really important is that we galvanise the nation and get more little girls \u2013 or young boys \u2013 playing the sport. Then we\u2019ve done our jobs.\u201d Even Hunt\u2019s mother has been swept along by the hype. \u201cMy mum wanted to go and play \u2013 I told her she\u2019s absolutely not allowed because she\u2019s about 60 now and people will just target her.\u201d<\/p>\n In a perfect world Hunt would also like to play on for another couple of years and participate \u2013 \u201cI would love to go out like that\u201d \u2013 on the inaugural female British & Irish Lions tour in 2027. As things stand, you wouldn\u2019t bet against her. \u201cI\u2019m not somebody who is super-flashy and is going to score you loads of tries but what I\u2019ll hopefully do is put someone else into space or give them that extra second on the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n Above all else, though, she now has the chance to close the book on her most painful rugby chapter. \u201cThat\u2019ll live with me always \u2026 not just in terms of how low I was but the fact there\u2019s always a way out if you\u2019ve got enough fight. That\u2019s the big thing I want to be remembered for. I feel really proud that I\u2019ve managed to get myself back in the place that I have.\u201d One final push and the circle will be complete.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is a quiet midweek afternoon on the outskirts of Bristol and, up to now, Natasha \u201cMo\u201d Hunt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5008],"tags":[748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-436932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-england","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115232920350153156","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}