Not satisfied with World Cup success and a Sport Personality of the Year runner up spot, Kildunne is eyeing being the best in the business
Make no bones about it, Ellie Kildunne wants to be the best rugby player in the world. Not the best women’s rugby player but the best player, period.
She has been telling us this for a while now. Ever since she was crowned World Rugby Women’s 15s Player of the Year in 2024, she has been honest with her ambitions.
You might think that is arrogant or even misguided, but you have to admire the ambition. And the portfolio of evidence that Kildunne put down during the recent Red Roses home World Cup success is pretty hard to argue against.
While the phenomenal Sophie de Goede of Canada was recognised as this season’s Women’s 15s Player of the Year, it was Kildunne’s constant moments of individual brilliance through the World Cup that were the difference.
Read more: The rise of the Red Roses
Ellie Kildunne: The star who lives up to the hype
England rugby player Ellie Kildunne poses during an interview in London on August 12, 2025 (Getty Images)
She lived up to her pre-tournament billing as the World Cup poster girl and the one player who could get the Red Roses across the line in their long hunt for world glory. And while many now consider her to be almost peerless in the women’s game, Kildunne is still aiming for higher ground. “I don’t think one big moment in a big game will define a player as being the best,” Kildunne tells Rugby World.
“Usually it is through consistency of delivering those big moments but also doing your job well. As a back-three player, my job is to finish off tries, which I’m expected to do because I’m known for my speed and agility. I was doing my job to the best of my ability. On any other day, it may not have happened.
“It’s a double-edged sword because I want to be the best rugby player in the world but I hope I never get there. I want to always chase to be better. Obviously I want to be the best player in the world but I hope that I never sit in an interview and say I’m at my best because I think you can always improve.
“I’m always seeking improvement and I think that is what makes the best players. You never reach the top of the mountain.”
Kildunne’s World Cup highlights
A roll call of individual moments through the World Cup acted as a red thread of her brilliance and proved that big-game players have big-game moments. There were the smart footballing skills and footwork for Jess Breach’s try in the opening game against the USA; predatory instincts to react to a mistake in the semi-final for a try that took the game away from France; and a moment from nothing in the final against Canada that sparked the record 82,000 Twickenham crowd into life and put the rocket into the Red Roses.
Read more: All the upcoming Red Roses fixtures in one place
Ellie Kildunne of England races clear to score her team’s first try during the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 Final (Getty Images)
Scoring a wonder try in a home World Cup final is pretty special. Watch the tape back and England were working with slow ball on the short side while Canada were managing a comfortable three-on-three defensive set. Most other teams would have worked to the edge for another phase. Especially when unexpectedly down on the scoreboard.
‘Don’t think, just do’
But for Kildunne, it was an opportunity to make something happen from nothing. A mixture of instinct and practice combining at the right time. “I have watched the try back to understand what I was seeing in that moment on the pitch,” says Kildunne.
“At the time it’s a fight or flight instinct and I think it’s interesting when people ask how I make those types of line breaks, what I’m seeing and why I do what I do. So I wanted to watch it back and break it down.
“I think instinct comes just from years of practice and repetition so that when it comes to a moment in a World Cup final, you don’t think, you just do.
“I distinctly remember Sadia Kabeya and Jess Breach outside me absolutely screaming for the ball, it was so loud. I knew the defenders would drift laterally for that. If you slow it down, you see I do a stutter step which looks like I’m going to stop. That slows the defender down for a millisecond, who was a forward fortunately, so I knew my acceleration would give me half a second. I was surprised to get through the space because it was a three-on-three.
“Then as I was flying through, you don’t really train those moments. I knew I wanted to head towards the posts for an easier conversion. I speak about one-on-ones a lot and something I’ve learned is not to step too late as you’ll get caught. You want to step a body and a half in distance off somebody, to give yourself time to readjust if they make the right read.
“It’s what I did but I don’t know what I was doing with my legs. I looked like a baby horse with my legs as I didn’t know whether to goosestep or go on the outside. But I saw the defender shift over and pushed through the gears to the line. There is structure behind the madness but it is ‘don’t think, just do’.”
Ellie Kildunne of England lifts the Women’s Rugby World Cup Trophy (Getty Images)
Read more: Kildunne fun facts
Ellie Kildunne: More than just a try-scorer
Even Kildunne’s impromptu second-half spiral bomb from a free kick was a pivotal moment. Unplanned, Zoe Harrision and Abbie Ward challenged Kildunne to put what had been a “three-year obsession” into practice with what she believes is the “nicest spiral bomb I’ve hit in my entire life” on the biggest stage of them all.
Ellie Kildunne with Ruby Tui at the recent HSBC SVNS Dubai tournament
It caused panic among the Canadians, with the spilt ball leading to a try five phases later. It’s a moment that few in World Rugby, male or female, are capable of. Someone who produced moments of brilliance like Kildunne is fellow Yorkshire-born full-back Jason Robinson, who also knows what it’s like to score a try in a World Cup final. In Kildunne, he sees an unstoppable force.
“Ellie Kildunne is a showstopper,” says the 2003 world champion. “Anytime you watch her play, she gets people off their seats. She’s fast, loves to score, is a character and is exciting. No wonder she’s been a World Rugby Player of the Year.
“I’m not sure she has many weak parts of her game. She’s young but confident. She has a kicking game, has the gas and will tackle in defence. She knows how to read a game. Doing homework for games is important but sticking to instinct is key. Defences will always try to spot you but it’s about spotting your own gaps and opportunities to make the game exciting, which she does. She will want to progress year on year but I don’t think she is far off.”
Ellie Kildunne of England bites her medal as she celebrates following victory in the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 Final (Getty Images)
Kildunne: A star off of the pitch
Life has changed forever for Kildunne post-World Cup. She was immortalised as a barbie doll, was nominated for BBC Sports Personality of the Year and is a social media sensation thanks to her highlights reel of viral moments.
We spoke to her just after her first-ever business class flight, courtesy of being an HSBC ambassador at the Dubai Sevens. She has been touted as a potential face of the proposed R360 rebel league and is an undoubted face of the current women’s game that finds itself in uncharted territory. The PWR has returned with more broadcasting coverage than ever before and England are set to break more attendance records in the next Six Nations.
Read more: Women’s Six Nations fixtures
Yet it also comes while World Rugby tinkers with the world game, attempting to align the two hemispheres in men’s rugby to retain control of the global game, all the while leaving certain elements such as women’s rugby and sevens to fend for themselves. The 2025 World Cup was a roaring success for the women’s game but it is the next steps that are most important. And Kildunne, rather than trying to be a political force in that, is sticking to what she knows best – playing rugby.
Harlequins’ Ellie Kildunne in action during the PWR match between Harlequins and Gloucester-Hartpury (Getty Images)
“I try to stay away from the politics of rugby because I know how complicated it is. I speak to enough people to understand the ups and downs of World Rugby. I see it on Twitter as well,” she adds. “I want to stay away from that stuff to not get confused. One of the main reasons I play is because it makes me happy. Getting bogged down in the politics, you end up stressed out about what you cannot control. What I can control is how well I play, success and impact decisions through that.
“Women’s rugby is in a space it has never been in before. That is going to cause questions because who knew this moment was coming for women’s rugby? We knew it might happen but we couldn’t prepare for this. The sky could be the limit on what comes next.”
Rugby is the driving force for Kildunne and it’s what she sees in her future: success at club level with Harlequins along with continued dominance on the international stage with England. She could be waylaid by the noise around her right now but she wants to be the best rugby player on the planet and to do that, she needs to be focused on her rugby.
“I want to win another World Cup. I want to get better. I don’t want to ever think ‘now what should I do?’. There are always more World Cups, Six Nations, PWR and now Lions tours to be won. I just love rugby and that inspires me and others more than anything.”
- Ellie Kildunne was speaking to us at the HSBC SVNS Series in Dubai where she is appearing as an HSBC Brand Ambassador around the ‘Lets SVNS This City’ campaign.
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