By Paul Eddison, Sportsbeat
Ellie Kildunne knows she enters 2025 with a target on her back but the full-back would not have it any other way.
The 25-year-old is the reigning Guinness Women’s Six Nations Player of the Championship, as well as World Rugby’s Women’s 15s Player of the Year after enjoying a stellar year for the Red Roses.
The expectations are sky high for more success as England prepare for their Guinness Women’s Six Nations opener against Italy in York on Sunday in what could be a transformative year for women’s rugby.
And while Kildunne knows the individual accolades she has received will not have gone unnoticed; it is a status she is embracing.
“2024 was not just a successful year for the team I play in but personally I was recognised and given awards that probably still haven’t sunk in yet," said Kildunne, speaking at Allianz Stadium, where the Red Roses will host France in the final game of the Guinness Women’s Six Nations.
"Six Nations Player of the Championship and World Player of the Year sounds very cool but it’s not something I think about every day.
“I’m aware I might get a late hit from time to time, I’ve got a bit of a target on my back. But that pressure is a privilege, I’ve worked hard to get to where I am.
“It’s a special place to be because everyone wants to knock off the person at the top.
"It’s something I’m navigating but I’m very proud to be in this position because I know it comes with power - not something to be abused - but it’s something that if I navigate it right, I can inspire every room I walk into in ways that I haven’t been able to before.
“It’s my job to keep on pushing, smashing through the glass ceilings, and ensuring that as female rugby players we are seen in spaces we haven’t been seen before.
"It’s what we deserve, it’s what the next generation deserves and it’s what the previous generation deserved because they worked hard to get us to this place now.
“We’ve got the reins, and we can steer it to whatever place we can. I’m proud to be in that position and grateful as well.”
As well as her success with the Red Roses in 2024, Kildunne was also part of the Team GB side that competed at the Paris Olympics in front of a packed-out Stade de France.
That experience, combined with playing in front of a world record crowd for a women’s rugby match when England took on France in the 2023 Six Nations Grand Slam decider, provided more proof of how the game is growing at a remarkable speed.
With a home World Cup also on the horizon, Kildunne is excited at just how much interest there currently is in the women’s game and cannot wait to step into that spotlight.
She added: “The moment we ran out for the first game of the Olympics, we were the first game of the women’s competition, the men had played, and we’d seen the crowds for that. We are wired as women and female players that you are always going to be second best to that and not to expect that.
“It felt like Britain’s Got Talent, you are stood behind a wall and can’t actually see the crowd, you can hear them.
"The moment I came around that bit of wall and saw a sold-out stadium, I really can’t explain the feeling other than saying when kids get dizzy and can’t stop laughing, it felt like that.
“People wanted to watch us play. Moments like that and the Six Nations here at the Allianz show that people want to watch us play. It’s our show time.”
Join the Red Roses as they kick off their Guinness Women's Six Nations campaign, don't miss the ultimate showdown against France at Allianz Stadium on Saturday, April 26th. Get your tickets now!
