LONG READ Ellie Kildunne: Why the Women's World Cup was like a wedding and a divorce

It’s hard to miss Ellie Kildunne these days. Not that she’s ever been particularly easy to miss. The contagious energy, the physical speed, the apparent ease with which she inhabits her own skin, the corkscrew curls, the footwork – they’ve all been there for some time, all been part of her life-enhancing vibe. But now her presence appears to have gone stratospheric; literally so, in one case.

Her Rugby Rodeo podcast, her media appearances, her fronting of big-brand partnerships, a bit of modelling, some photography, an honorary doctorate… The Kildunne schedule is packed. (Surely the Strictly invitation is a mere matter of time?)

Now – to top it all – she is Britain’s disembodied voice of Christmas, at least for those flying into London this festive season. A pre-recorded message from Kildunne declaring that the “world feels a little brighter at Christmas” now greets Heathrow passengers over the tannoy. And there is something apt about this. For 2025 is a year in which Ellie Kildunne has gone global, as well as stratospheric.

This, she admits, is her “new norm”: rarely at home, few nights in the same place, even fewer pauses for breath. A lot has been crammed into her 26 years so far and most of that has come in the last 26 months or so. But the best, she insists, is still to come. And amid the steady flow of offers and proposals from her agent, rugby remains her absolute priority.

“It all has to fit around training – that’s number one,” she says of her new post-World Cup regime. “I can’t just miss a session. I’m good at staying on all the time. When I’m on the rugby pitch, I’m on it. When I’m away from rugby, I’m on it. Whatever it is I’m doing I’m on it.”

We speak while Kildunne is engaged in yet another commitment. She is in Dubai for the revamped HSBC SVNS series. There is something apt about speaking to her there: Dubai – that symbol of untapped sports markets, of aggressive growth in areas previously considered to be off-limits for sport and women’s sport in particular.

The Rugby World Cup final was the biggest high of my career. I had a couple of weeks off and then it was the club season. I wasn’t quite getting that buzz. I was loving it but something was missing.

And I can confirm that she is, in her own terms, “on it”.

In my corner of south east London it’s grey, damp and the heating is on. But then Kildunne comes into shot on the screen, her colourful t-shirt outdone in vibrancy only by her chatty effervescence.

Kildunne is a sprinting, side-stepping embodiment of optimism. And I’m about to receive a welcome dose.

But even the most stubborn optimist has their wobbles. Having played a pivotal, game-changing role in England’s Rugby World Cup triumph in September, Kildunne concedes that there was more than a hint of a comedown. She starts comparing it to a wedding and a divorce. “Stick with me, it’ll make sense,” she insists.

“The Rugby World Cup final was the biggest high of my career. I had a couple of weeks off and then it was the club season. I played well in the first couple of games at Quins but I wasn’t quite getting that buzz. I was loving it but something was missing.

“I compared it with a relationship. It had been a long-term relationship with the Red Roses and September 27th, the final, was the wedding day.

“When it comes to your health and well-being there are three parts: the physical, the mental and the emotional. For the first – the physical – there are trainers to condition you. For the mental there are psychologists and other professionals. But for the emotional, you can only control that yourself. You can’t get someone else to help your heart.

“I compared it with a relationship. It had been a long-term relationship with the Red Roses and September 27th, the final, was the wedding day. Then, having only just had my wedding day, I had to divorce. I started seeing every training session at Quins as a date. If something didn’t go so well, there was always the next date. The dates are going well now. I’m at peace with it.”

A sevens Olympian with Team GB, the World Player of the Year for 2024, and now a World Cup-winner. It is a dizzyingly impressive CV, in which each year seems to build irresistibly on what has gone before, like a long, flowing backs move.

Kildunne is one of the biggest names in the women’s game, and she has in part earned that through proving herself to be not only a consistent player but also a big-game player.

Ahead of the World Cup final at Allianz Stadium, Kildunne was the talk of Twickenham – at least from my vantage point. And, of course, the full-back duly lived up to her billing. A spot of footwork, a show of rare balance, a blast of rapid acceleration and – yee-haw! – Canada were undone inside eight minutes. The rodeo was up and running and this cowgirl was in control.

The Rugby World Cup was way bigger than anyone expected it to be: the competitiveness of the teams, the size of the crowds. It lived up to what I said, and long may it carry on.

The Red Roses’ handsome victory at a jam-packed Twickenham – and the exuberant sea of red cowboy hats that celebrated it – immediately felt like a milestone for the game, not only on English shores but internationally. And Kildunne is acutely aware that she is privileged to be playing the game at a time when a new era of women’s sport is emerging. And she is determined to continue to be at the vanguard of the revolution.

When she received the World Player Award in 2024 she posted that “women in sport are about to take over and I can’t wait to be a part of it”. Looking back over the past year, she’s chuffed at how the takeover is going but insists there is more to come; there must be no place for complacency.

“A takeover is exactly what has happened,” she beams, acknowledging how the twin successes of the national football team at the Euros and the Red Roses at the World Cup have reinforced one another. “Seeing the Lionesses being successful again was just the start of it. The Rugby World Cup was way bigger than anyone expected it to be: the competitiveness of the teams, the size of the crowds. It lived up to what I said, and long may it carry on.

“I hope we take that on into the Six Nations. The game at the Allianz (against Ireland on April 11th) already has 40,000 tickets sold for it and I expect that to be sold out.”

Don’t ever get bored of being the best player that you can be. Regardless of what opportunities come, the only reason you are where you are is because you are a rugby player

The numbers for the women’s game are indeed improving. But how does she believe her own career and the women’s game at large will continue to grow? Her answer is two-fold: remaining personally grounded in the sport, and the game itself continuing to push boundaries in the way it publicises itself.

“Firstly, don’t ever get bored of being the best player that you can be. Regardless of what opportunities come, the only reason you are where you are is because you are a rugby player so always remember that,” she says. “And then there’s marketing. Look at what Saracens are doing on socials. Some of it is tongue-in-cheek and on the edge but it’s more eyes on the game and more people going to watch games.”

The shout-out to her London rivals is a generous gesture by Kildunne given her 50-plus caps for Harlequins (and given that Quins are subject to some mild baiting by their London rival’s Instagram feed), but she knows that women’s rugby will ultimately flourish or flatline depending on the way it harnesses the power of marketing and partnerships.

“The involvement of bigger brands is what’s going to drive investment and it will mean that more players can train full-time and that the quality of the game will lift.

“I’m excited to see what the Six Nations looks like, and in the first four games of the Premiership Women’s Rugby season the crowds trebled or even quadrupled.”

If Kildunne is the standard-bearer for a new generation of England rugby, she is also a standard-bearer for women’s sport more widely.

 

The line on the graph is heading in the right direction for the English game, and the Red Roses will push for a fifth consecutive Grand Slam when the Six Nations begins in spring.

And it speaks volumes about the direction of English rugby that when the national sides renewed their main partnership deal with O2, it was Henry Pollock and Kildunne who were front and centre for the announcement.

If rugby needs its personalities to ensure it can edge into new territories and capture new audiences, then here is the pair to do it. Vibrant, heart-on-sleeves performers, and slick on social media. But if Kildunne is the standard-bearer for a new generation of England rugby, she is also a standard-bearer for women’s sport more widely.

We speak, coincidentally, on the day that controversial and troubled breakaway rugby competition R360 announces the postponement of its inaugural season. Kildunne knows that all manner of offers, deals and blandishments will land in her inbox as the game grows, and that’s where a good agent comes in.

“I’m well aware that new opportunities are going to come from new brands because we have new eyes on the game. There is now visibility that hasn’t been there before. As a player you just focus on your rugby. We’ve got people who do the talking.

“If I do my best who knows what direction I will go? I don’t see the Rugby World Cup as the pinnacle, it’s just the start.”

In terms of the start, the finish and all the places the lie in between, there is the small matter of an inaugural women’s British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand in September 2027.

It’s a tactic for life. I want to keep on getting better, so love every second on the pitch – and turn the hot water on.

Coming as it will just days before the men’s Rugby World Cup starts in Australia on October 1, it will be another milestone in the ascending road of women’s rugby. And it is tricky not to imagine Kildunne in a Lions shirt in a couple of years, spreading seeds of alarm among the Black Ferns’ defensive line.

Her Instagram bio, as her near-200,000 followers know, contains a few words of advice for life: “Lukewarm is no good”. Ellie Kildunne: all in or not in at all. Giving every moment the heat it deserves so that things come to the boil.

“It’s about not settling for anything,” she explains. “It’s a tactic for life. I want to keep on getting better, so love every second on the pitch – and turn the hot water on.”

An undoubted hot property in global sport, Kildunne has also been in high demand recently at her old university: St. Mary’s in (where else?) Twickenham. Having spent seven years gaining her undergraduate sport and exercise science degree – squeezing in classes and assignments between training and touring – she found herself receiving an honorary PhD only two months after receiving her bachelor’s degree.

Kildunne didn’t end up delivering a speech at the ceremony for her honorary doctorate, but knows exactly what she would have said to young students if she had spoken.

“Stress less and enjoy your time more,” she says, unhesitatingly. “That doesn’t mean just going out drinking, but looking around the room and making the most of what is there, because once it’s gone, it’s gone.”

That’s Ellie Kildunne: turning on the hot water wherever she goes.

Ellie Kildunne was speaking at the HSBC SVNS Series in Dubai where she appeared as an HSBC Brand Ambassador around the ‘Lets SVNS This City’ campaign