Best player in the world 2018, the opening half of the French team decided to hang up her blue jersey at the end of the Tournament, following the recent path of Laure Sansus, Marjorie Mayans, Céline Ferer and Safi N’Diaye. ..
Best player in the world of the decade 2010-2020, Jessy Trémoulière (73 selections) will play her last Six Nations Tournament, which will also be her last competition with the XV of France, from Sunday March 26. She will then hang up her crampons with the Bleues, even if she will continue to play with her Romagnat club, to devote herself more to agriculture, a passion, and relieve her father, who replaced her on the family farm during her absences.
Franceinfo: sport: You announced your international retirement just over ten days before the start of the tournament, when did you make this decision?
Jessy Tremouliere: It came over time. After the World Cup, when I came back to the farm, it was complicated for my dad and my brother in terms of work. We have a dairy farm with 60 cows and 300 hectares of agricultural land. My dad is 67 years old, it has been complicated for him in the last few weeks. With the preparation and the World Cup, I left almost six months last year. It’s not an easy job, you also have to think about your family and your health. I already lost my mom so I don’t want to lose my dad. I’ve been in rugby since I was 17, and I don’t enjoy family enough. So I want to take advantage of him, and the fact that he can give me a handover on the farm.
So we had a long discussion on my return, and it’s true that I was not in the idea of stopping the selection, but it came little by little. We did not find a solution so I decided to stop my international career. I do it for my dad, who has already done a lot for me by replacing me on the farm. I have already participated in two World Cups, I have been in the France team for twelve years. It’s not really a regret, otherwise I might have forced the thing a little more. But I, perhaps, also, made the turn a little.
Is it one passion that takes precedence over another?
Yes totally. I knew that at some point there would be this choice to be made, but I didn’t know when it would happen. Now it’s done, another passion will take over, with the farm, the animals. I’m not doing it reluctantly because I know I’m going to put as much investment into it as I did on the field in rugby.
Despite your activity as an international player, is this work on the farm financially essential or is it a choice on your part to work there?
It’s not a financial choice at all. I am passionate about the farm. She takes me out of rugby and vice versa. We have a 75% contract with the federation, we can live fully from rugby, but I never wanted to leave one of these two passions. I left the farm when I was playing rugby 7 and came back because I missed nature and working with animals.
Doesn’t rugby income give you the means to find and finance a replacement during your travels with the XV of France?
It’s a cost we can afford, but it’s never easy to find the right person. We had found an apprentice, but unfortunately it didn’t work out.
Will new projects on the farm become incompatible with the national team?
Yes, we are building a new building which will be put into service in June or July, with two milking robots. It came into consideration, because my dad told me he would be lost with the electronics, and it’s not up to him to deal with it. It also tips the scales. We will say that it happened quite naturally, weighing the pros and cons, then I also think about my future life, and I have no regrets about quitting.
You will still continue club rugby. How are your days organized between the farm and rugby?
These are long days, and a choice had to be made. Previously, I wanted to put all the means on my side to be successful in rugby. But after the World Cup, I saw that there was less and less room for rugby. I got up at 6:30 a.m. to be milking at 7 a.m. Then I worked until noon, then we resumed at 2 p.m. to finish at 8 p.m. It’s been long days, and I couldn’t find the time to do extra training in addition to those of the club. Before, I went to bodybuilding three times a week, I did three training sessions in the club and three more training sessions, outside the club, to be efficient with the Blues.
During the World Cup, you were relegated to the bench, with some bitterness towards the staff. Did that also weigh in your thinking?
Not at all, because the staff has changed. Gaelle [Mignot] and David [Ortiz] stayed, and at the beginning of January, we had a seminar with them, during which they presented the framework to us, and I really saw a change. This frustration belongs to the past, we must move forward and not question everything at the slightest thing. It’s really a new cycle, with new management, new players. You don’t have to look behind. I’m not going to be able to take advantage of this new cycle much, but you have to take what there is to take. It’s up to me to have fun, to create memories.
You still have a tournament to play, do you approach it differently?
Completely ! Looking back, I wonder why I didn’t do this on all my tournaments. We really want to enjoy the present moment, the moment. I talk more with the staff in the offices in Marcoussis, I take better advantage of people, because maybe I won’t see them again. When you have your head in the handlebars, you don’t really realize it, but you realize all that when you get to the end. On the field, I don’t want to worry, I take the ball, I have fun, I want to take advantage of girls, especially those with whom I have affinities. But I approach it in a cooler way, hoping that the greatest reward will be at the end.