The Women’s Rugby Player of the Year, Ellie Kildunne, has expressed her desire to emulate Lionesses star Chloe Kelly, ensuring her name appears on fans’ shirts after the Women’s Rugby World Cup. The Harlequins fullback is brimming with confidence as she looks for global glory for her country at home and has been inspired by the English footballers who retained their European title. Kelly, from Arsenal, played a stellar role in England’s triumph at the Euro 2025 in Switzerland, rising to fame by scoring the winning goal in the Euro 2022 final at Wembley. Kildunne is key to the Red Roses’ ambitions of lifting the trophy at Twickenham next month and hopes the team can follow in the footsteps of the Lionesses, becoming household names and raising the profile of women’s sport.
The player is inspired by the success of the Lionesses in women’s football and hopes to achieve something similar for women’s rugby. England will start the World Cup on August 22 against the United States in Sunderland and will also face Samoa and Australia in Group A. The hosts arrive at the competition as the world’s top-ranked team, tournament favorites, and having won the last seven Six Nations titles.Outside this pub, Chloe Kelly shirts are being sold on the street. That’s what the Euros has done for the Lionesses and the opportunity we have with this World Cup is to have Kildunne shirts for sale on the street; for girls and boys to have posters of Emily Scarratt and Meg Jones on their walls and not just Jonny Wilkinson.
Ellie Kildunne
Kildunne can’t go anywhere without someone talking about the Women’s World Cup or the Red Roses. She acknowledges that they will have to get used to it because the attention won’t diminish anytime soon. Kildunne consolidated her status as the image of the tournament by being named world player of the year after an outstanding 2024, in which she scored 14 tries in nine matches. The 25-year-old player claims she is not intimidated by the prospect of increased scrutiny.Her ability to keep fighting and not give up is something that inspires many people. Like Red Roses, it’s something we can draw inspiration from because it’s not going to be easy, we’re going to have to work very hard.
Ellie Kildunne
Kildunne feels strong, confident, and ready for the challenge.I’ll add that goal to my back; I see it as pressure, but I don’t think pressure is a bad thing. I see pressure as a privilege and I definitely think it’s a good thing. I use pressure to challenge myself to exceed people’s expectations and rewrite what people may think I can do and take it to the next level.
Ellie Kildunne
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The disappointment and anguish of the last World Cup rekindled a flame within me that I already thought was burning quite strongly. We have learned a lot from that tournament and we have built a lot in our culture, so we are in a completely different space. It’s something you can rewrite and we are very focused on that. It’s not a revenge story, we are simply rewriting.
Ellie Kildunne
