{"id":695391,"date":"2026-05-26T09:33:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T09:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/695391\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T09:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T09:33:09","slug":"everyone-hates-us-dont-they-mo-hunt-on-why-england-wont-tire-of-dominating-womens-rugby-womens-rugby-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/695391\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Everyone hates us, don\u2019t they?\u2019: Mo Hunt on why England won\u2019t tire of dominating women\u2019s rugby | Women’s rugby union"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mo Hunt came into this season cresting perhaps the highest peak of her career. The scrum-half had added a second World Cup medal to her collection when England defeated Canada <\/a>in front of a record home crowd in September, carrying that form into Premiership Women\u2019s Rugby, where Gloucester-Hartpury are chasing a fourth consecutive title.<\/p>\n

Gloucester secured a home semi\u2011final before the league paused for the Women\u2019s Six Nations and have not lost in the competition since November 2024. But just as another trophy-filled season looked within reach, Hunt\u2019s campaign came to a sudden halt.<\/p>\n

Not long after coming off the bench in England\u2019s opener against Ireland <\/a>in front of a record crowd of 77,000, she pulled up injured. The knee problem ended her season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is my medial collateral ligament,\u201d the 37-year-old says. \u201cIt\u2019s three months recovery so I will miss the end of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if I have processed it properly yet. I have always been a person to always push boundaries so I don\u2019t know if I have fully accepted that is the case. That is a work in progress I would say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunt says she is making slow progress in her recovery, but thoroughly enjoyed watching England as a fan. The Red Roses won their eighth consecutive Six Nations title and fifth grand slam in a row by defeating France in Bordeaux<\/a> with Lucy Packer in the No 9 shirt.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe better Luce plays, the better it makes me because we are both competitors and we are pushing each other,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Lucy Packer (holding the ball) is the current owner of the No 9 starting shirt for the Red Roses. Photograph: Catherine Steenkeste\/Reuters<\/p>\n

\u201cI have so much love and respect for that girl and it has always been the same. We have always helped each other through anything we have needed, and that isn\u2019t going to change now she has the starting\u00a0shirt.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was my role going into the tournament, I was going to be on the bench for Luce. So happy to support and see her thrive. It is almost like changing [the] guard, but I am still there pushing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunt watched the grand-slam decider against France at home alongside her Gloucester teammate and World Cup-winning captain Zoe Stratford.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was incredible, it always is when England play France. There is so much history there, such a massive rivalry, especially more so from their side than ours. Everybody gets up for playing England, everyone hates us don\u2019t they? It was pretty cool to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrance away is one of my absolute favourite places to play because the crowd is so hostile and they really try to get on top of you and force errors, but the way the girls dealt with it, managed it and marshalled it later in the game was\u00a0sick.\u201d<\/p>\n

England contended with more than just Hunt\u2019s injury<\/a> in the tournament with more than 10 players unavailable. The Red Roses managed to evolve and adapt to continue their winning streak and Gloucester can take inspiration to do the same in the PWR. Hunt is one of a few players unable to take to the pitch. Nel Metcalfe and Tatyana\u00a0Heard are just back in training after injuries and Alex Matthews had shoulder surgery a few weeks\u00a0ago.<\/p>\n

Hunt believes the key to the club\u2019s success over the past few years has been their strength in depth. \u201cWhen people aren\u2019t available there are people waiting in the wings that are ready to take an opportunity,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you will see that when we go through the next few games. I would love to be out there competing with the girls, but I have no doubt the squad will go on to achieve great things. I am excited to be a fan girl for the next couple of weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been super lucky with injury over the last few years that I haven\u2019t experienced it [being in the crowd at Kingsholm] too often. I have been involved in the matchday squad lots. It will be different for sure, I am not sure how I feel about it at the moment. I will probably be in The Shed with the girls, that is where we like to\u00a0watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tatyana Heard on the attack for England during the World Cup final against Canada. She will leave Gloucester at the end of the season to join Sale Sharks. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Hunt is fully focused on her recovery with the next matches she could be available for coming in England\u2019s WXV fixtures in September and October. While the PWR 2026-27 season begins in November, the scrum-half has another target in mind with the inaugural women\u2019s British and Irish Lions <\/a>tour of New Zealand in 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am really enjoying my rugby,\u201d she says. \u201cI am still going all right at it so why wouldn\u2019t you try and put your hat in the ring for something like that? Some of my favourite memories playing was in the GB sevens squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be within a potential chance of going to New Zealand [is in] the back of my head. I will do everything I can this year to put myself forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is an extract from our weekly rugby union email, the Breakdown. To subscribe just visit this page<\/a> and follow the instructions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mo Hunt came into this season cresting perhaps the highest peak of her career. The scrum-half had added…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":695392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-695391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=695391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/695392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}