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Growing up in the rural West Yorkshire village of Riddlesden, Ellie Kildunne had a Roald Dahl quote pinned on her wall. “Lukewarm is no good,” it read, a maxim that Kildunne has carried with her to the top of her sport. These next few weeks, in which she will be the poster-girl of a home World Cup that England are overwhelming favourites to win, could catapult the 25-year-old to superstardom; it is a good job, then, that Kildunne appears totally at ease with the fame for which she has long felt destined.
“She was playing against my daughter in an under-15 game and I’d never seen anything like it,” former England head coach Simon Middleton once recalled of the first time he had seen Kildunne play. “Her team went 30 points down and she kept them in it, almost on her own, running in tries and kicking goals from the touchline. You don’t see that from many 15-year-olds.”
Prepare to see plenty more feats of daring and dynamism from a Red Rose in full bloom as the World Cup begins. With a great shock of curls decorating an upright yet deceptively powerful frame, Kildunne is a smooth mover, with trademark serpentine weaves in and out of contact employed to devastating effect since her introduction to international rugby as a teenager. Off the pitch, too, she will be tough to miss; brand deals with Asahi, LG, Canterbury and others befit her status as World Player of the Year. It would be easy to fatigue given the prominence afforded her even within a standard-setting side, but Kildunne’s natural charisma and charm have been clear in every media engagement ahead of a tournament of which she may become the face.
“I haven’t even scratched my potential yet,” Kildunne told The Independent, ominously, last year, clutching the individual award earned by a superlative 2024 that brought Six Nations and WXV success and a foray back to sevens at the Paris Olympics. If such bold declarations are typical of athletes with her sort of stratospheric ambition, it was nonetheless delivered with the conviction of a certain truth.
For there is still a sense that Kildunne is still figuring out the game. Catapulted into an England environment at the age of 18, there was a sense that neither player nor individual quite knew what to do with the raw talent at their disposal. Deployed at full-back on a bit of a hunch – the teenage Kildunne was pretty unfamiliar with the position – flashes of supreme athletic talent were mixed with the growing pains of youth; while Abby Dow and Jess Breach, the other prongs in England’s back three triumvirate who made their debut in the same game, soon established their place in the senior side, it took a couple of seasons on the sevens circuit for Kildunne to really make her name. Even by the time of the last World Cup, when her star was fully on the rise, she likely wouldn’t have started the final if not for Helena Rowland’s injury.
“The disappointment and the heartbreak of the last World Cup reignited a flame inside me that I already thought was burning pretty bright,” she said ahead of her second tournament.
“We’ve learnt so much from that tournament and built so much in our culture that we’re in a completely different space. It’s something that you can rewrite and that’s something that we’re very much focused on. It’s not a revenge story, we’re just rewriting.”
But the heartbreak and hard lessons of a relatively tough first major tournament have driven Kildunne to new heights. Growing up, the youngster sported the Liverpool shirts of her first sporting heroes, like Fernando Torres; now it is her name emblazoned on the backs of a growing army of Red Roses fans. Even among a squad of outstanding ambassadors and engaging personalities, the full-back stands out for her unique connection with her audience. Authentically herself, Kildunne has thrived under John Mitchell in an environment that has encouraged its players to show their personalities on and off the pitch. Her trademark lasso celebration, born at WXV in 2023 with the forming of a “Cowboys” group within the squad of which Meg Jones is the “Sheriff”, has begun to be imitated on the terraces; when 500 Red Roses cowboy hats were crafted ahead of the Women’s Six Nations decider against France, supposedly at the personal request of RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney, the accoutrements sold out almost two hours before kick-off.
Away from the pitch, Kildunne’s expressive edge is clear. A keen photographer and fashion designer, she has worked with clothing brands and O2 to fight the gender awareness gap with a bespoke range of apparel; she’ll be sporting new boots during the World Cup featuring a design that very much reflects her character.
But elite teams are not picked on popularity or personality alone, and Kildunne has had to work hard to really take command of her starting spot. A tendency to try to do too much herself from earlier in her career – often with success – has been eschewed by a maturing full-back, increasingly getting the best out of others as well. Yet Kildunne knows that the intensity of the spotlight upon her will add scrutiny – but the bright lights have never really bothered her.
“It will add that target onto my back; I see it as pressure but I don’t think pressure is a bad thing,” she stressed ahead of the tournament.
“I see pressure as a privilege and I definitely think it’s a good thing. I use the pressure to challenge myself to exceed people’s expectations and to rewrite what people may think I can do and take it to the next level.
“I’m feeling strong and confident – the most confident I’ve ever felt – so I’m ready and raring to go.”
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