Estelle Sartini (born 1 June 1973) is a French former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player, who captained the

France women's national rugby union team The France women's national rugby union team represents France in women's international rugby union. They played the first-ever women's rugby union test match against the Netherlands on 13 June 1982. They compete annually in the Women's Six ...

. She made 89 appearances for France between 1998 and 2008.

Personal life

Aside from rugby, Sartini has worked as a

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

teacher, in

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

and later

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

Career

Sartini originally played

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, before switching to

at the age of 16. Sartini was a winger. At club level, Sartini played for . Between 1998 and 2008, she played in 11 consecutive semi-finals of the French women's Premier Division, and was part of the Caen team that lost four finals between 2003 and 2007. At international level, Sartini made 89 appearances for the

. In the

2001 Women's Five Nations Championship The 2001 Women's Five Nations Championship was the third and final series of the rugby union Women's Five Nations Championship and was won by , who achieved the Grand Slam. It should have been a six nations championship, but for the second year r ...

, she scored a try against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. France scored 9 tries in the match. She was part of the French team that won the

Grand Slam Grand Slam or Grand slam may refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category terminology originating in contract bridge and other whist card games Athletics * Grand Slam Track, professional track and field league Auto racing * ...

in the 2002 Women's Six Nations Championship, and was in their squad for the

2002 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2002 Women's Rugby World Cup was the second World Cup fully sanctioned by the sports governing body the International Rugby Board (IRB). The tournament was held in Barcelona, Spain. The formatThere are 16 teams at the IRB Women's World Cup 20 ...

. In 2005, Sartini was captain of the France team, and she also captained the side at the

2006 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2006 Women's Rugby World Cup (officially IRB Rugby World Cup 2006 Canada) took place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The tournament began on 31 August and ended on 17 September 2006. The 2006 tournament was the third World Cup approved by the ...

. Sartini retired from rugby in 2008, to move from Caen to Versailles. Between 2012 and 2017, she worked as a commentator for

France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (form ...

channel France4, and she was also a reporter for

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during the

2014 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup was the seventh edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup, and the sixth held in Europe. The World Cup Final took place on 17 August. All of the pool games for the World Cup took place at the Centre National du ...

in France.

References

French female rugby union players 1973 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) France women's international rugby union players Rugby union wings {{France-rugbyunion-bio-1970s-stub