Sarah Hunter has announced that Saturday’s TikTok Women’s Six Nations game against Scotland will be her 141st and last for England.
The No.8 has been part of 10 Championship wins, nine of them Grand Slams, since making her debut in 2007.
She was also vice-captain of the World Cup-winning side in 2014, reaching three other finals.
Here we look back at the defining moments of her career:
2007 – First cap
Hunter admits she made little impact in the five minutes she played in England’s 60-0 win over Scotland in the 2007 Women’s Six Nations.
Coming on for Georgia Stevens, no one could have known what would follow over the next 16 years.
England sealed the Grand Slam that year, for the second time in a row, as they continued on a run that would see them claim seven consecutive titles, six of them Grand Slams.
2013 – Four tries and the captaincy
Hunter’s first points in the Championship came in 2008, and she would cross for a try in most campaigns, but in 2013 she scored a career-high four times as she captained England in a Six Nations campaign for the first time.
She led from the front with the first try in England’s opening-round win over Scotland, scoring again with 10 minutes remaining.
Tries against Italy and Wales followed but it was not enough to stop England finishing third as Hunter’s most prolific Six Nations came at the time that the Red Roses’ dominance ended as Ireland claimed the Grand Slam.
2014 – World Cup win
England failed to win the Women’s Six Nations again in 2014 but they made up for it in October as they claimed their second World Cup.
Hunter started in the back row alongside Maggie Alphonsi and Marlie Packer, who will take over from her as captain for the 2023 TikTok Women’s Six Nations.
She was on the field as the final whistle blew on England’s 21-9 win over Canada and, alongside then-skipper Katy Daley-Mclean, she was awarded an MBE in the 2015 New Year’s Honours list.
2016 – World Player of the Year
2016 was a special year for Hunter for many reasons.
She returned to captain England in their Six Nations campaign, having missed the 2015 Championship through injury, and guided her side to second place, missing out on the title on points difference to France.
By November, the Newcastle native had been crowned World Rugby Female Player of the Year, beating out France captain Gaëlle Mignot and New Zealand skipper Fiao’o Fa’amausili.
2019 – Professional contracts arrive
By the time the 2019 Women’s Six Nations arrived, Hunter had run out for England well over 100 times, but she had never done so as a professional.
At the beginning of 2019, England became the first nation to offer full-time contracts to their 15s players and they marked their first game as professionals with a 51-7 win over Ireland.
Hunter led her side to the Championship and the Grand Slam that year, her second as captain after winning in 2017.
2021 – Return to play
Sarah Hunter’s career could have ended in October 2020 when she injured a nerve in her neck that left her struggling to complete simple tasks.
In a display of the strength of her character, she returned to the field for England’s 67-3 win over Italy in April 2021 to confirm their place in the Women’s Six Nations final, where they beat France 10-6.
2022 – 138th cap
A Rugby World Cup quarter-final is a big enough occasion on its own but Hunter made even more history as she became England’s most-capped player.
Overtaking former teammate Rocky Clark, Hunter also became the most-capped women’s player leading England to the semi-final and then the final in New Zealand.
Heartbreak followed at Eden Park, as it had in 2010 and 2017, with Hunter admitting if England had ended with the trophy, she may have bowed out sooner than this weekend.
2023 – One final game
The final page of Sarah Hunter’s England career has not yet been written, but we know the story is coming to an end.
Hunter is going back to where it all started, Kingston Park in Newcastle, the proud Geordie switching from rugby league to union and never looking back.
She will end against Scotland, the team she first played, in the competition she first wore the Red Rose in.
Tickets are already sold out, an example of the impact Hunter and her England side have had on women’s rugby in this country.
It may be one final game as a player, but her legacy is just beginning.
