‘I picked up a ball when I was nine. I love playing’

WHEN Sarah Hunter last week announced that she would be retiring after yesterday’s Six Nations clash between England and Scotland in her native north-east, it made national news and the No 8 was swamped by interview requests ahead of her record 141st and final cap at a sell-out Kingston Park.

It was a marked contrast to the time when she played her first international in 2007 at Old Albanians in front of a couple of hundred spectators, most of whom were family members. The women’s union was then separate from the RFU and the players did not sport the Red Rose on their jerseys.

“At the start of my career, I would not have believed it if I had been told there would be so much interest ahead of my final game,” said Hunter, below, a World Cup winner in 2014 and world player of the year in 2016. “My phone did not stop and there was so much kindness. It was overwhelming.

“I picked up a ball and played when I was nine because I loved the sport. I did not know then that there was an England women’s team and when I did, my dream was to have one cap and then two, never imagining I would end up with so many.

“The game when I started and the one I leave are worlds apart. I did not have any female role models to look up to until I was 19 or 20, but now girls have a pathway and because they can see it they can believe. If they have the skill, ambition and the drive, they can succeed.”

Another difference between then and now is that the women’s game is no longer amateur. England led the way in contracting players and others have followed, spurred on by World Rugby who recognise it is the fastest growing area of the game which is gaining commercial clout.

“Like the England women’s football and cricket teams, we are winners and people want to watch successful teams,” said the 37-year-old Hunter. “One of the best things we have done is to take the game out of London to hotbeds of the game. We have a travelling fan base who want to support us, from people in the north-east travelling to Gloucester to those in the south getting to Exeter.

“Kingston Park was sold out two weeks before the game. I remember once when we drew 4,000 to Doncaster’s Castle Park and thinking that was something. Now more than 40,000 tickets have been sold for next month’s match against France at Twickenham and we are on terrestrial television when before there was no coverage.

“The women’s game is in a really good place, and not just in England. The Six Nations is becoming more and more competitive, participation levels are rising, the Premier XV league has made a fundamental difference and for any young player now, the world is their oyster.”

Hunter did not want to retire immediately after last year’s World Cup final loss to the hosts New Zealand which ended a 30-match winning run.

“I was not ready to bow out when I came back,” said Hunter. “I needed to deal with the loss and my body was not quite right. I knew I would regret if for the rest of my life if I did not get to the Newcastle game, back where it all started for me in a special place.

“I will remain involved in the game and will continue to coach at Loughborough. I am at ease with my decision. Once you make it, you know it is right.”