Hunt prepares to face up to Black Ferns challenge

By BEN JAYCOCK

England v New Zealand

PREVIEW…

Today. Kick-off 8.30pm, Langley Events Centre

NATASHA Hunt says England are gearing up for the dangers of a ‘walking wounded, no fear’ New Zealand side after the world champions’ torrid run of defeats.

While reigning champions England cruised to a 61-21 victory over USA in their tournament opener, the Black Ferns fell to a first ever defeat to Ireland meaning they suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time in three years.

Their historic Ireland loss has resulted in New Zealand being surpassed by Canada, falling to third place in the World Rugby rankings for the second time in four months.

The six-time world champions have lost three of their last six outings and are in the early stages of a new look half back pairing of Maia Joseph and Hannah King.

Hunt, 35, is a wise head with her 67 caps and says they would be foolish to underestimate their opponents’ goal of earning redemption this evening. She said: “New Zealand have always been good at throwing the ball around but there’s a bit of a danger about them being a little bit wounded which they will be after last weekend.

“That no fear element when you’ve got new people coming into the fold means they will have been given licence to go out and play especially in that 9-10 jersey.

“They need to do something different because whatever has happened before hasn’t worked. That’s something we’ll need to work out in the first 20 minutes and then do what we can to come out with the result.”

Hunt’s half-back partner will be Bristol Bears fly-half Holly Aitchison, who is preferred to Zoe Harrison.

Aitchison is part of an experienced backline with Tatyana Heard and Helena Rowland in midfield and Jess Breach, Abby Dow and full-back Ellie Kildunne forming the back three.

On Aitchison, Hunt said: “We played together when she was 17 at Litchfield as a half-back combination. She’s such an instinctive rugby player, I really enjoy playing with her. We’ve had a lot of training time during pre-season and the more you train together the more you get to know what someone is going to do. We see the game very similarly, so I’m very fortunate we can bounce off each other. We want to get almost telepathic in what we’re doing.”

New Zealand are the last team to beat the Red Roses, with a dramatic comeback win in the Rugby World Cup final in 2022. However, England have had their arch rivals’ number since picking up a 33-12 victory in last year’s WXV title decider and a 24-12 triumph last month at Allianz Stadium.

Gloucester–Hartpury‘s Hunt is proud of the way they coped with New Zealand’s fast start in that game and believes their recent meeting will put her side in good stead for this match up.

She added: “A New Zealand side is so rich in history especially when coming up against England. There’s a huge amount of mutual respect across both teams. It’s always a bit edgy and working out to be done early on.

“I couldn’t have faulted the girls’ defensive effort in the first 30 minutes keeping them scoreless as that was massive for us. The first opportunity we got to go down the other end, we took points away from them.

There’s always a bit more bite when playing the world champions and this isn’t one we have to force ourselves to get up for.”

Hunt has a feeling of personal retribution to be earned as she was unhappy with her defensive performance in the meeting last month.

“For me it’s more about my positioning because I got done by their speed on the outside,” said Hunt. “There’s definitely talk about the physicality they’ll provide. Every game is physical, shown by the hits going in against USA. They are really powerful girls and their winger Ayesha Leti-I’iga (below) has an unbelievable skillset and speed on top of that power as well. There’s individual responsibility, my defensive game wasn’t good enough and it’s up to me to fix that.”

It will be Hunt’s first involvement in the tournament and she is eager to make her mark.

She added: “I’m in a great space, the whole squad is absolutely thriving which is good to see and Canada has been awesome. I’m buzzing to have my first involvement of the tournament as it feels like a long time coming.”