"i haven't even scratched my potential yet" ellie kildunne: world rugby player of the year talks her england future and the exciting season ahead - ruck

_By Jon Page_ FOLLOWING HER ANNOUNCEMENT AS WORLD RUGBY WOMEN’S 15S PLAYER OF THE YEAR, HARLEQUINS AND RED ROSES FLYER ELLIE KILDUNNE TOOK THE TIME TO SPEAK TO THE MEDIA AT ALLIANZ STADIUM

TODAY TO DISCUSS BOTH HER AWARD AND WHAT MORE IS TO COME THIS YEAR, WITH THE PWR, SIX NATIONS AND THE 2025 WORLD CUP AHEAD OF HER. In Monaco last Saturday Ellie Kildunne was celebrating

alongside other award-winning rugby stars from both the 15aside and 7aside codes, such as Pieter-Steph du Toit, Maddison Levi, Antoine Dupont, Erin King and Wallace Sititi. But in a

congested season to accommodate the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup there is little time for sentiment and Kildunne agrees, seeing her award as a responsibility to perform. In response to the

question ‘has it sunk in?’, this is what she replied: “No, it hasn’t. I got back on Monday night, and I was back training on Tuesday. So, there’s no point having the, you know, the title of

women’s world player of the year on my shoulders. It means nothing. As soon as I got off that pitch, it’s on to the next season. __ “And how can I put myself in a position to be nominated

again. Just because I’ve got that title doesn’t mean I’m gonna have a good game this weekend unless I train really hard. So no, it hasn’t really sunk in. It’s just been about, how do we prep

for the next thing? “But I do have pinch me moments like today where, you know, I mean, I’m really proud of myself, and, you know, people around me that have got me that have got me to this

spot, because I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.” Despite being given the highest accolade for individual achievement in rugby available to her, Kildunne is far from done yet.

Although she acknowledges her individual hard work, she was quick to point out the hard work and success of both Harlequins, who are 2nd in the PWR and the Red Roses, who have had an

unbeaten 2024 calendar year. Regardless, following a 23/24 PWR season where Kildunne led the league in defenders beaten and ranked in the top 5 for metres carried, kicking metres and kicks

from hand, and won 2024 Women’s Six Nations Player of the Championship to boot, it is clear to see how much she has achieved on an individual level already, even though she is only just

getting started. “I definitely don’t think that this is the end of Ellie Kildunne, I think I haven’t even scratched my potential yet. So, there’s a lot more to come, but I do have moments

where I do reflect on the hard work that not just I’ve put in, but my team have put in, whether that is for Harlequins or for the Red Roses. We’ve had a season where individually we’ve

worked very, very hard, and things have just started to click. You know, we believe in each other. We back each other, and I wouldn’t be able to play the way I play on the edge without the

girls doing their job in the middle.” As well as her finesse for both Harlequins and the Red Roses, Kildunne became an Olympian this year, representing Team GB in Rugby 7s at the Paris

Olympics. In an Olympic squad that featured rugby stars such as Ellie Boatman and Jasmine Joyce, Kildunne admits that a 7th place finish was disappointing. However, she also highlights the

positive side of the growing number of opportunities now available in women’s rugby, such as the first ever women’s Lions tour appearing in 2027. “That’s the beauty of where the women’s

games going now. So, the past season, I haven’t actually had any time off, because I used my summer to go to the Olympic games and they’re moments that I will never take for granted. And you

know, it’s easy to I would have loved to be in Spain with my legs up, but I was at an Olympic Games and yeah, we didn’t do as well as we wanted, but I learned so much from that, not just on

the field, but off the field as well, making new connections with people. “You know, being in the game of sevens is different to the game of fifteens. Everyone’s as fast as me. I’m not the

fastest on the pitch anymore. So, you know, just, you know, being able to be part of teams and different teams and working out how to get the best out of myself, but other people around me

is something that I’m grateful for. And you know, we look at what’s coming up. “We’ve got the PWR season, Quins currently second, it’s now about keeping that winning streak going. We’ve then

got the Six Nations, we’re trying to get the Grand Slam again, and then we’re going into the World Cup cycle. And then after that, there’s a Lions tour. So, the game is getting busier and

busier, and I feel like I’m grateful to be part of it at the age that I am, because it’s not just one cycle that’s left in me. Hopefully it’s a few.’ As women’s rugby continues to grow, as

indicated by an increase in women playing the sport of 33.9% in 2023 alone (according to World Rugby), it is clear that women’s rugby is going from strength to strength. To girls who are

apprehensive to not just play rugby but to get involved in any sport, Kildunne has a clear message: “Why not? You’ve got nothing to be scared of. You know, getting into rugby, I played a lot

of football as well, but you become part of a family. You play with your best friends, you train with your best friends, you travel the world with your best friends, and you make some

really cool memories that you will cherish forever. And it’s not that scary, trust me, I do not like getting tackled, so that is why I play, the way I play, I run away from people. So,

rugby, football, whatever sport it is, get involved and just see how it goes. If you don’t like it, that is absolutely fine, but just give it a go, because you’re going to make some really

cool memories.’ Following a disappointing 23/24 PWR season for Harlequins, where they finished 7th, Kildunne’s club side have fought their way up to 2nd as the table currently stands. It

hasn’t been easy for Harlequins either, having to show a level of fortitude after losing their first two games of the season, before going unbeaten since. As Kildunne prepares to take on

Ealing Trailfinders Women tomorrow, she reflects on what her club side have done so well to have them one position from the top of the PWR table. “We’ve got a super strong pack, is what I’d

like to start with and the depth of the squad, as you know, it’s massively increased. We’ve got a few new signings, Alex Callender, she’s brilliant, and she’ll, you know, she’ll win the ball

back when you need that ball back. She’ll make that big tackle when you need her to make that tackle. But we’ve got such a strong pack, it doesn’t matter who’s starting and who’s coming off

the bench. It’s almost like the bomb squad comes on, like the South Africans. You just, you think, as an opposition, God they’re coming again, and it’s almost like a new starting pack. “So,

they put us on the, you know, front foot that allows us to have the space to play. And then in the backs, we’ve got a couple of new signings, we’ve got a Spanish girl, Clàudia (Peña), who’s

very young, but she is incredible. She’s very instinctive, she’s got a killer step, and she can kick, and she can run. She handed, of all people, Marley Packer off and she hit the floor.

Not many people do that, and definitely not backs. We don’t do that. “So, you know, having players like that, but also having young players coming through, Ella Cromack, Sarah Parry, they’re

all you know, young girls who are going to be in the system for a long time, and I’m just glad that we’ve got them at Harlequins, because we’ve got the ability to play and make entertaining

rugby happen. And as soon as you get a couple of wins on your back, we beat Bristol away. I felt then there was a momentum shift. Everyone saw as an underdog, and now they fear us. “So,

we’ve got this weekend’s game against Ealing, and I’m looking forward to that, because there’s no point beating Saracens, beating Bristol, beating Loughborough, those tight games, if we

can’t back it up each week. So, come Ealing in this weekend’s game, we talk about, how can we beat Ealing before the match actually even happens? How can we beat Ealing in training? And the

girls work so hard to make sure that we do that. So, I’m feeling very confident for this weekend. But you know, we know that there’s still a job to be done, and we definitely will do that on

Saturday.’ In a team as dominant as the Red Roses, you definitely need a selection of outstanding players, which is demonstrated perfectly with Kildunne’s teammates Emily Scarratt, Zoe

Aldcroft and Marlie Packer all former World Rugby Women’s 15s Players of the Year. Kildunne highlights the importance of internal competition from the squad, to raise standards when the Red

Roses take to the pitch in test matches. “The training that we do is so competitive, you know, that you never secured a new spot. You’re always fighting, not just for your shirt, but to put

the shirt in a better place. Everyone talks about that after, after you finish playing, leaving the shirt in a better place. But I believe that week in, week out, how do you play again and

then the next game, whoever’s in that shirt, whether it’s a 15 shirt for me, how do I leave that in a better place, whether it’s me or if it’s someone else. “And yeah, we train to win, and

we train to be the best team in the world, and that does come with a few harder hits than the normal and I’ve been on the end of a few handing offs where I’ve ended up on the floor, but I

know that makes me a better player. I know that that means when we do come against New Zealand, and they’re all big girls who are all handing you off. “I’ve done it in training the week

before, and we have this inner belief and inner passion for the game and our game, which you can feel on the pitch. I enjoy playing. When you see me, you see me smiling. You’ll see the rest

of the girls smiling, because we genuinely enjoy what we do, and we enjoy doing it with the people around us as well.’ Finally, when Kildunne was asked what accolades she would like to have

earned in the next year, she did not hesitate to say, ‘world champion’. But in a reflection of not just her but the entire Red Roses’ attitude for success, she focused on the need to not

look too far ahead and instead focus on the next jobs ahead of them that will aid in their World Cup campaign, namely strong individual performances in the PWR and a successful Six Nations

as a team. The next paragraph is her response to what she would like to have added to her rugby CV in 12 months’ time: “Well, I think it’s obvious to say a world champion. I think if I said

anything other than that, there’d be some questions thrown my way, but yeah, I’d love to be sat here as a World Cup winner, but in the Red Roses we don’t talk about the World Cup that much.

John Mitchell uses the analogy of Everest, and when you climb Everest, you’ve got base camps, and you will not get to Everest if you just go straight to the top. You’ve got to stop at each

base camp. “So, we had WXV, we’ve got the Six Nations, we’ve got the Prem, and if we keep on looking too far ahead of ourselves, winning that World Cup will be something that we just talk

about. So yes, I’d love to be sat here and having the same conversation as a world champion, but we know what’s important in front of us first.”