Hunt is Exeter's hat-trick hero

By Harry Scott-Munro
9/3/21

Hat-trick hero McKinley Hunt admitted that “sometimes you have to win dirty,” after her Exeter Chiefs side recovered from a 22-7 deficit to secure a stunning 31-29 victory over Wasps in the Allianz Premier 15s at Twyford Avenue.

Hunt’s treble and a second score in as many weeks from fellow Canadian Taylor Black were aided by 11 points off the tee from centre Gabby Cantorna.

“That was definitely a team fight,” said Hunt. “That was a 1-23 effort, everyone who was here gritting that one out.”

Despite trailing at the interval, the Chiefs rallied in a classic example of a game of two halves, to secure a potentially crucial bonus point win.

“We are a cohesive unit,” explained Hunt. “You see it in training, we are all genuinely great friends so I think we wanted to do it for each other and just found a way to flick that switch and keep fighting in the second half.”

There were two contrasting styles on display, with the flair and 7s skillset of Wasps backs up against the grit of the Chiefs pack. Despite her hat-trick, Hunt credited her team-mates interventions for her try-scoring feats in the match.

“Our forwards are great,” she added. “A lot of those forward patterns were set up by the backs, so it’s definitely a team effort. I have to give credit to everyone around me for my tries because I just had to do the final bit after everyone else had done the hard work.”

A titanic clash was eventually swung on two huge moments from American international Cantorna, firstly slotting a penalty to regain the lead, before a match-winning tackle on Kate Alder to seal the win. With all the drama going on around her, Hunt admits that she had one eye on the clock as Cantorna was steadying herself to kick.

“I just tried to keep everyone calm as I knew we still had a few minutes left, it was more trying to keep in the fight and keep pushing as we still had time to play.”

With four rounds to go, Exeter’s destiny is still in their own hands, as they look to chase down a play-off place and Hunt insists that her side are “exactly where (they) want to be.”

“We knew we could compete with them and we keep sending a message each and every week. It doesn’t matter that we’re a new team, we’re ready to fight each week. Today showed what women’s rugby is all about and hopefully we can continue that progress and have people more excited by the game.”