After 17 years of remarkable physical durability and resilience, Emily Scarratt has announced her retirement from playing rugby at age 35. The resilient centre’s career includes 119 England caps, 754 points as the nation’s all-time leading scorer, and two World Cup victories. Her ability to maintain fitness and avoid career-threatening injuries across nearly two decades of elite rugby demonstrates extraordinary physical durability and professional approach to recovery and conditioning.
From her 2008 debut, Scarratt’s durability became one of her defining characteristics. While talented players came and went due to injuries, she remained consistently available for selection. Her contribution to 11 Six Nations championships reflected this reliability—coaches could build game plans knowing Scarratt would be fit to execute them. Her achievement of competing in five World Cups required maintaining elite fitness across 14 years of tournament cycles, avoiding the injuries that ended many promising careers prematurely.
The 2014 Rugby World Cup demonstrated Scarratt’s durability under tournament pressure. She finished as the tournament’s leading scorer with 70 points, playing multiple high-intensity matches in short succession without breakdown. Her player of the final performance as England won the championship came after weeks of physical warfare. This durability, combined with skill, earned her the 2019 World Rugby Player of the Year award—an accolade rarely won by frequently injured players.
Her durability extended to captaining Great Britain at the 2016 Rio Olympics and winning Commonwealth Games bronze with England sevens in 2018—formats that place different physical demands on the body. At club level with Lichfield and Loughborough Lightning, she maintained the same availability and durability, understanding that professional conditioning and recovery practices prevent injuries.
As she retires with her body still capable of elite performance—choosing retirement on her terms rather than through injury—Scarratt will share her conditioning expertise through coaching. She has accepted an assistant coaching position with Loughborough Lightning for the upcoming season and will also work with the RFU in a specialist coaching and mentoring role. In her retirement message, Scarratt expressed pride in being part of women’s rugby’s transformation into a professional sport and gratitude for the privilege of retiring healthy and on her own terms. England head coach John Mitchell paid tribute to her as a once-in-a-generation player whose durability and professional approach to physical conditioning established standards for injury prevention and longevity that will benefit future generations.