Hunter hopes to take inspiration from roaring Lionesses
SARAH Hunter believes England’s World Cup rugby campaign is perfectly timed to try and “carry on momentum” generated by the Lionesses’ stunning Euro 2022 success.
The baton for British women’s sport will soon be passed to England captain Hunter and company as the Red Roses target a World Cup triumph in New Zealand.
Ranked the number one team in the women’s game, they have also won the last four Six Nations titles and crushed perceived main World Cup rivals New Zealand 43-12 and 56-15 on successive weekends last autumn.
North Shields-born Hunter, who starred when England won the World Cup in Paris eight years ago, knows there will be considerable expectation.
However, she says the squad has been left “buzzing” by England’s 2-1 victory over Germany at Wembley, which gave the
Lionesses a first major
trophy and the first for a senior England football side since the 1966 World Cup.
Hunter said: “As a female sports player it has been absolutely incredible to see how the nation has got
behind them. You expect it with the England men’s football team but for everyone to be talking about it, for it to be all over television, the papers, social media, it just feels like a real turning point - not just for football but women’s sport as a whole.
“I am inspired by what they have done.
“They have gone all the way to win a European Championship on home soil, which is unbelievable and fantastic to see. I watched the final on television and when the cameras were panning around the stadium you saw so many young girls and you thought this is what they now expect and they can grow up and say :‘I want to be Leah Williamson, I want to be Chloe Kelly.’
“It would be brilliant moving forward how the two teams can learn from each other, how some of the things they do could transfer into rugby and vice-versa.”
The Red Roses are building towards games against the United States in Exeter and Wales in Bristol next month.
Their World Cup opener is against Fiji in Auckland on October 8, with France and South Africa completing England’s pool as Hunter and company look to go one better than five years ago when they suffered final heartache at New Zealand’s hands.
Hunter, the second most-capped player in women’s international rugby history with 134 Test appearances, added: “When we came in for training on Monday everyone was buzzing
“There was an air of like ‘they’ve done it, now we want to go and do it as well.”