Sarah Hunter: England have to ‘expect the unexpected’ from Italy in their Six Nations clash | Rugby Union News

“Italy away is always a tough proposition. They get a good crowd, with a strong home support, and you have to expect the unexpected with Italy. They like to play the ball, and to play it from anywhere on the pitch through an offloading game,” England’s Sarah Hunter tells Sky Sports

England Women skipper Sarah Hunter says the Red Roses must “expect the unexpected” from Italy, when they travel to face the Azzurre in Parma on Sunday in the Six Nations.

Having dispatched Scotland 57-5 in Round 1 of the tournament last Saturday, after a sticky start to proceedings in Edinburgh, England next travel to the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi to face Italy, who suffered a Round 1 39-6 defeat to France.

Unlike their male counterparts, Italy have regularly collected victories in Six Nations campaigns over the last decade, picking up just one Wooden Spoon and finishing second and third in that time, but have never beat England in 14 attempts.

Speaking exclusively to Sky Sports after training this week, England captain Hunter – who earned her 131st Test cap in victory over Scotland – said the Red Roses will have to concentrate vs Italy, with a loose, attacking-style game likely.

“Italy away is always a tough proposition,” Hunter told Sky Sports.

“They generally get a good crowd, with a strong home support, and you kind of have to expect the unexpected with Italy.

Hunter says England’s Red Roses are ‘expecting the unexpected’ vs Italy in the Six Nations

“They like to play the ball, and to play it from anywhere on the pitch through an offloading game.

“They’re a side who never gives in. They’ll defend, scramble really well. They disrupted France’s set-piece last Saturday at lineout time, so we’ve got to expect threats from all over the pitch.

“But for us going into it, we expect that but then we’re also focussing on what we want to do and how we build our performance from the Scotland game.”

Coming into this year’s Six Nations, England entered on an 18-Test winning run (now 19), and as reigning championship title winners from 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Hunter said the squad pay no attention to talk of being favourites, however, instead choosing to shift the focus on France – England’s key rivals over the last few seasons.

“For us, we don’t look at that [being labelled as strong favourites],” she added.

“You could look at France and their two autumn wins against New Zealand and how they were emphatic against them.

England have won 19 straight games in a row, and come into 2022 having won the Six Nations in 2021, 2020 and 2019

“They’ve got three of their games at home as well which gives them an advantage [including France vs England in Round 5]

“We don’t look at it as a favourites tag, we focus on ourselves and what performances we want to put out, and how we want to play.

“So any pressure comes from internally, rather than worrying about what people might be writing about us: favourites, not favourites etc.

“It’s always really important to start off a campaign with a win, and a comprehensive win in terms of points.

England began their 2022 Six Nations campaign by defeating Scotland 57-5 in Edinburgh

“But when we look back at the game, there are areas we want to improve. Our skills let us down at times, our unforced errors were quite high.

“It certainly didn’t feel like a 57-5 game when we were out there.

“We need to improve but ultimately we had to get that win to get off to the start we wanted.”

Hunter and England have a superb record against Italy, with the Azzurre never winning in 14 meetings

England were the first union in the world to turn women’s rugby professional, and Hunter says the players and RFU are proud to have led the way in this regard.

She added the hope that more nations, after Wales this season, will look to follow suit.

“It was huge to turn professional. It was something we’ve always strived for in the women’s game, whether us now or it was Gill Burns and the generation that started English women’s rugby.

“For the RFU to put their hands up and say we’re going to invest in our women, and we’re going to be the first ones to do so, they’re really proud of being that leading union in the women’s game.

“And wanting other nations to follow. New Zealand are now pro, Wales are pro. There are some semi-professional teams. And hopefully the more that go, the more will follow.

“As an England women’s rugby player, we’re really proud that we’re set in that level.”