Sarah Hunter, CBE
Rugby World Cup winning Player and Coach, former England captain, England Rugby Coach, Sports Broadcaster, Public Speaker.
Sarah is England's most capped player of all time – in men and women’s rugby. She reached this huge milestone on rugby’s greatest stage – at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand in 2022.
She is also England’s only female Rugby World Cup winning Coach and player, winning Rugby’s greatest accolade as a player in 2014 and then as a coach in 2025 at a record breaking, historic World Cup in England.
Sarah is truly a stalwart of English Rugby, and with her rugby pedigree has come the honours. She and her teammates became the first ever female team to win the coveted BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year award in 2014 and Sarah has also been recognised for her Services to Rugby with a MBE and a CBE, and she continues to be a leading inspirational role model for the women’s and girls’ game as Defence Coach for the Red Roses.
Sarah was England captain for seven years and during her tenure she led England to four 6 Nations Grand Slam titles. She has been named England’s Player of the Year by the Rugby Players’ Association and World Rugby’s Player of the Year. Sarah retired from rugby in 2023 in front of a sell out crowd at her home stadium of Kingston Park.
Sarah started out playing rugby league as a nine-year-old at Goathland Primary School, and studied Sports Science and Mathematics at Loughborough University. Sarah, who was born in North Shields, worked as RFU University Rugby Development Officer before she moved to Loughborough Lightning to take up at player-coach role.
Sarah is an excellent speaker and is well versed in delivering to a vast array of audiences, on subjects as diverse as leadership, understanding pressure, the psychology of winning, working in a male dominated environment and challenging perceptions.
Career Highlights
Inspirational Speaker
Sarah’s speaking topics include: leadership, understanding pressure, the psychology of winning, working in a male dominated environment and challenging perceptions.
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"I was blown away and inspired listening to the ups and downs of Sarah’s rugby career while balancing all the other aspects of her life. I have listened to a lot of motivational speakers and Sarah is the best by far, which was mirrored by the feedback I received from the graduates attending the Santander's Graduate welcome event. The honesty of the experiences & the links to the corporate world & Banking were made very clearly & appropriately to help the guests understand that they would be facing similar journey.”
Tracey-Ann Harberd, EIC Recruitment Partner, Santander UK
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“Sarah was part of our Women in Society event and she was a fantastic addition to our speaker line-up. Sarah went down extremely well and set the standard very high from the beginning. I can’t recommend her highly enough"
Helena Palmer, Leadership Development Consultant, Telefónica UK Limited
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“It was brilliant to have Sarah at the Barnes RFC Annual City Lunch. Sarah is a natural presenter and the audience were blown away by her charm, humour and genuine passion for all things rugby and people. It was a joy to welcome her into the Barnes family, and it was pretty amazing for a room of 500 to rise as one and celebrate her talent."
Michael Whitfield, Pink Rhino Consulting
Gallery
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