France great Jessy Trémoulière has announced that she will be retiring from international rugby at the end of the 2023 TikTok Women’s Six Nations.
Aged just 30, Trémoulière will bow out after the upcoming Championship, having already won two Grand Slams with Les Bleues.
At an individual level, Trémoulière was named World Rugby’s Women’s Player of the Year when France swept the Championship in 2018, scoring two tries in the win over England.
And she was later crowned Women’s Player of the Decade for her performances for Les Bleues.
Now though, Trémoulière has decided the time is right to bow out, with commitments to the family farm on which she works with her father and brother, taking priority.
She explained to the Midi Olympique: “With my brother and my dad, we have an organic milk farm with 60 milk cows and more than 200 animals in all. It’s a big farm and it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage. My dad will be 68 and cannot pick up the slack when I go away with France. Four days or a week or two is ok, but now I’m going away for three weeks with France and that’s a lot.
“Since December, I’ve been a lot more involved in the farm and the rugby has go on the back seat.
“I decided a few weeks ago to stop my international career. It was not an easy decision because I’ve been in the France team for 12 years. It has been part of my life since I was 19, that’s not nothing.”
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Named by new coaches Gaëlle Mignot and David Ortiz in the France squad for the TikTok Women’s Six Nations, Trémoulière will have one final opportunity to shine on the international stage.
And she fully intends to make the most of it, with France kicking off against Italy in Round 1, before a potential Twickenham send-off in front of what could be a record crowd on Super Saturday.
She added: “I want to play with freedom, to have fun and to make the most of this final Championship. I want to finish with no regrets, to provide my experience to the squad which is getting much younger with the arrival of lots of youngsters. I will give the everything I can so that they can enjoy great careers and can go as far as possible with a view to the 2025 World Cup.”