With Ellie Kildunne in her way, what can England do with Emma Sing?

It began as a trickle of musings at the start of the season but is now a full-on deluge of discussion.

How do England solve an opportunity like Emma Sing?

As the PWR returned to our screens last weekend, we were served with another reminder of the treasure trove of rugby riches that Sing possesses.

Sing – aged 24 and with 13 caps to her name – has become a counter-attacking queen, a defensive shield, and a kicking extraordinaire of whom there is no equal in world rugby.

And in Gloucester-Hartpury’s recent win over Loughborough Lightning she put it all on display once again. She made more metres ball-in-hand than anybody else in the PWR (again), put in try-saving tackles, and kicked 5 of her 7 conversions, leaving her with an 84% success rate from the tee this season.

The next best kicker in the league is Zoe Harrison who is on a very healthy 78% herself. Sing picked up the player of the match award, had 2014 World Cup winner Katy Daley-McLean waxing lyrical about her on TNT Sports, and did it all in front of England head coach John Mitchell in the stands. Read the PWR round 9 roundup (with Sing the headline talking point).

But does any of this matter when Ellie Kildunne – England’s brightest star as the Red Roses won the World Cup in September – is England’s nailed-on full-back? “It’s like she is made of magic,” the BBC’s Sara Orchard proclaimed perfectly of Kildunne in the World Cup final, and really, it is. It would be a brave coach indeed that replaces a magician with an artisan.

But Sing’s performances do demand a re-reckoning of England’s back three. Could Kildunne and Sing both be selected? Now Abby Dow has retired, there is a real possibility to try this out in the Six Nations. And it would be fascinating to see how England might manage such an arrangement.

But why mess around trying to fit two full-backs in when you’ve got specialist wingers like Claudia Moloney-MacDonald, Mia Venner and Millie David, all champing at the bit to start?

The answer to that question is that one area England can improve in is goal-kicking. And Sing is the best goal-kicker in the world. As England’s first-choice fly-half Harrison usually has the kicking duties and is usually somewhere around 70% for kicks on goal in Test matches. That’s healthy enough but Sing could improve England’s performance from the tee by at least 10%.

That’s a benefit worth looking at. The reality is England don’t urgently need to improve in this area. The Red Roses are almost certainly going to cruise to another Six Nations title this spring and quite possibly another WXV title later in the year. A 10% uptick in kicking from the tee will be here nor there this season.

However, by the time of the next World Cup in Australia in 2029 – which will fall under Mitchell’s tenure as England coach – the rest of the world will have closed the gap. They might not have caught up with the Red Roses completely but the likes of New Zealand, Canada, France, Ireland and even Australia should be in a place to catch England out if they have an off-night. That should be their aim at least.

And amidst intensifying competition for their crown, England may need that extra 10% kick success rate from the start of matches.

Mitchell is a shrewd operator and a master of forging squad cohesion and he will know just how important it is for Sing to be embedded in the side long before he really needs to call upon her to win England matches with the boot.

For all her achievements with Gloucester-Hartpury, Sing is still very short of time on the field in matches that matter for England. She started the Six Nations decider vs France last season and looked to the manor born for 20 minutes, but then a shaky half-hour ensued and France came roaring back.

She will have learned a lot. And she needs to be involved in more occasions such as those over the next four years. Given England’s dominance, there may only be one or two matches a season in which England are stress-tested. Sing needs to be involved in those encounters.

Whether that means selecting both Sing and Kildunne, or whether it means leaving Kildunne out for some of the big games over the next few years is a matter for Mitchell and his coaching team.

Whichever way he chooses to approach an opportunity like Sing, he needs to ensure that come 2029 and, let’s say, a rainy semi-final in Sydney when perhaps England haven’t played well, when perhaps they’ve had decision after decision go against them, and it all comes down to someone landing a goal-kick from a difficult angle and a long way out, he must have the best version of Sing to call upon to kick it over.

The only way to do that is to start bringing in Sing as a front-line player as soon as possible. Even if it means the unthinkable: making space for her at the expense of Kildunne. At least for a few matches.

Luckily there’s not a lot of time to wait to see a head-to-head of Kildunne vs Sing (if both players are selected and fit), as Gloucester-Hartpury continue their PWR title defence in round 11 on Saturday 14th February 2026 against Harlequins at Kingsholm. Who’s your pick?

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Gloucester-Hartpury Women RFC

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Harlequins Women

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