England and Harlequins full-back Ellie Kildunne cannot even fathom how transformative next year’s home Rugby World Cup might be for her country.
The 25-year-old was crowned World Rugby women’s 15s player of the year earlier this month at a glitzy ceremony in Monaco, honoured in part for her 70-point contribution to the Red Roses’ perfect run in 2024.
Kildunne watched the Lionesses’ triumph at the 2022 home Euros sparked a boom for women’s football, and the West Yorkshirewoman is now daring to dream about a similar paradigm shift for her sport.
“I think it’s beyond the imagination,” Kildunne told the PA news agency. “You don’t often get to reflect on how big it is, what we do, until there’s a comment or you have a conversation with someone.
“I actually saw a message (recently) that a young boy was playing in his boys’ team and he scored a try and he said he scored a try like Ellie Kildunne.
“That’s what I mean. I didn’t even know that that was even a thing. I think you kind of think it could happen within the girls’ game, but for a young boy to say that was very, very cool.
“We don’t know how much we can impact the next generation until it happens, so I wouldn’t be able to answer now.
“I obviously have hopes, but I think we’re going to exceed them.”
England will look to avenge their discouraging 34-31 defeat by New Zealand in the 2021 final when the Red Roses open their campaign against the United States at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light in August on August 22.
Kildunne was also voted player of the championship after England sealed their third straight grand slam at the Six Nations in April, scoring nine tries across that campaign.
Just a few months later, the keen photographer suited up for Team GB’s sevens squad at the Paris 2024 Olympics at the 80,000-seat Stade de France, an atmosphere Kildunne likened to “a Britain’s Got Talent audition… people started doing high fives and kissing the camera!”
In October, Kildunne represented England as they successfully defended their title from the inaugural WXV1 tournament, a competition designed to facilitate more consistent and competitive matches for women’s rugby.
The Canada-hosted second edition drew criticism for its small attendance figures, with England head coach John Mitchell at one point telling the BBC: “The Red Roses don’t deserve to play in front of non-crowds because they present a good product.”
While official numbers were not released, even to the naked eye they were a far cry from the record 66,000 for a women’s rugby event set at the Olympics, or the 16,237 for a women’s club rugby meeting set by Harlequins at their annual Big Game last year.
Kildunne is pragmatic, suggesting playing in countries where rugby does not have the same stronghold is “the only way the sport will grow internationally.
“When we went out to Canada, there weren’t as many tickets sold, but the level of competition in WXV had grown so much in just a year.
“There were probably Canadian fans at home thinking, ‘I wish I was there,’ so the next time we play in Canada, more tickets will be sold. That’s the impact that we want to have, is just keep growing the game.
“Learn from every tournament, take it to a space internationally that it is huge everywhere.”
Harlequins have had no difficulty shipping tickets for their annual Big Game, a blockbuster double-header of men’s and women’s matches at Twickenham.
Quins are once again aiming to set a new world record for a women’s club contest for a fourth time in as many years, setting a target of 20,000 spectators for the 16th edition on December 28.
“It’s become part of the Christmas tradition now,” added Kildunne. “Often people talk about crackers and getting around the fireplace and singing carols or whatever it is people do, but ours is going back down on the M1 to Big Game.”
:: Big Game 16 takes place at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday December 28. To find out more about the event, please visit www.quins.co.uk