Hunter earns plaudits for Bristol fast start
BRISTOL Ladies head coach Roy Davies has identified England captain and recently crowned World Player of the Year Sarah Hunter as the catalyst for his side’s recent success.
Hunter received the international accolade last Sunday for her stellar season with England but her efforts in a Bristol shirt haven’t gone unnoticed by Davies whose team is undefeated after seven Premiership rounds.
The West Country outfit have also been boosted by the return of Olympians Abbie Brown, Danielle Waterman and Amy Wilson-Hardy who missed last season to prepared the Rio Olympics with the Team GB Sevens team.
“It’s all about having good people at your club and Sarah is very genuine and hardworking,” said Davies. “She applies herself, supports those around her and I think it’s those people skills that make her a really good player.
“The Olympians are obviously fantastically talented players. They have brought a level of professionalism for the other girls in our squad to understand how they work and operate and to look at them and go, ‘we’ve got them in our team’, it just gives them a bit more confidence.
“We have maybe ten players just beneath that level who I believe will be playing international rugby within the next two or three years.
“I’m talking young girls who have grown up seeing Sarah or Danielle on television and now see how they conduct themselves and how they interact, it gives those girls a lot more confidence in their own abilities.”
Bristol finished fifth last season, but under Davies have had to re-assess their goals after an emphatic start to their campaign.
He added: “I think in the position we are in at the minute we’ve got to be looking at winning the league but I don’t think it’s going to be easy. We can’t say because we’ve won the first seven games we’ll definitely go on and win it.
“We’re facing Aylesford Bulls next who have some new coaches in and a lot of new players who have played international rugby and who have won Premierships in the past so they are a real challenge, we certainly won’t go in expecting victory.”