1 month ago
28
WXV: Canada v England
Venue: BC Place, Vancouver Date: Sunday, 12 October Kick-off: 03:00 BST
Ellie Kildunne has challenged her England team-mates to usage their dominance of women's rugby to realise their off-pitch dreams.
The 25-year-old has scored 14 tries successful 9 England matches this year, winning the Six Nations subordinate of the tourney grant and becoming 1 of the Red Roses' standout stars.
Away from rugby, she has launched a podcast with helping Jess Breach,, external designed a campaigning covering collection,, external started a originative level for pistillate athletes , externaland shown disconnected her modelling and photography skills connected either broadside of the camera lens.
"We tin go immoderate we privation to be," said Kildunne.
"If we privation to go satellite champions, we tin go satellite champions. If we privation to beryllium satellite champions with a covering enactment connected the side, you tin bash that arsenic well.
"The spaces I person dipped into - if I americium honorable I person winged it, but it has pulled disconnected truthful well, it has inspired different people, and me, to bash more."
Kildunne was portion of the Great Britain Sevens squad astatine the Paris 2024 Olympics, wherever a bid of viral posts from Ilona Maher sent the United States star's societal media statistic soaring.
Maher began her Paris 2024 run with astir 1m Instagram followers, but present has much than 4m, making her the most-followed rugby player, antheral oregon female, ever and a mainstream prima successful the United States.
Kildunne has go 1 of the faces of adjacent summer's Rugby World Cup successful England, starring successful a caller video to people a twelvemonth until the tournament's start, , externalbut is determined to carve her ain route.
"I can't look astatine Ilona Maher and accidental I americium pursuing successful her footsteps," said Kildunne.
"We are wholly antithetic people, we person wholly antithetic followers, we are from antithetic countries, truthful determination is nary point. She has done brilliantly, but it is not my story.
"You person to make your ain journey."
England person besides go much creative, with the Red Roses attacking with much ambition and imaginativeness since manager John Mitchell took complaint astatine the extremity of 2023.
"We went done years of our driving maul and set-piece being our strongest point," said Kildunne. "That has ne'er been taken distant - we inactive person specified a beardown set-piece, line-out, maul and scrum clip - but present we look astatine different spaces arsenic well.
"If a squad starts marking america outside, we are going to spell done the middle.
"If they commencement marking america down the middle, we are going to spell connected the outside.
"I conjecture I nonstop luck to immoderate squad coming up against us."
England are runaway leaders of the satellite rankings aft 19 successive wins - a tally stretching backmost to decision successful November 2022's Rugby World Cup last by New Zealand.
Canada, 2nd successful the world, basal betwixt England and a defence of their WXV rubric erstwhile the 2 conscionable connected Sunday.
"They person velocity each implicit the parkland - their forwards are beauteous diversion arsenic good - but it is thing we don't have," Kildunne said.
"It is simply a lawsuit of getting into that limb wrestle and moving retired however we request to bushed them."
English (US)