Lights, Camera, Action
While Player of the Match is a title that’s been frequently awarded to Red Roses and Harlequins full back Ellie Kildunne over the past month, she’s creative and free-spirited both on and off the pitch, scoring tries and taking pictures, which is her other passion.
Last weekend against Scotland, making 97 metres with 12 carries and beating two defenders, she scored twice to be named the game’s best player, and said after the whistle: “We can be proud of the number of points, but we still have a lot to work on.
“It was a team performance. We speak about confidence and taking the handbrake off, and each game we try to do that a little more. Each game we unlock a new strength or strategy and now we build for the big ones at the end.”
A self-proclaimed tomboy growing up in Yorkshire, she was building treehouses and playing out with her brother and friends, kicking a football and tagging along to rugby training, where she played both rugby league for Keighley Albion and rugby union for Keighley RUFC. She focused on rugby and went to Hartpury at 17, her England career soon a reality as she failed to get selected for the U20s, only to be called up to the senior camp.
The 24-year-old played for West Park in Leeds, Castleford, and started at Gloucester-Hartpury before a stint at Wasps and her move to Harlequins for the 2021-22 season.
She scored against Canada on her 2017 England debut, started five of England's 2018 Six Nations Championship matches and was Player of the Match after England's win over Ireland. In the summer of 2018, she moved to England Women's Sevens as they qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
She returned to XVs rugby in 2019 and played a huge part in the Red Roses’ world record 30 wins in a row until that was ended with defeat at the last Rugby World Cup final in New Zealand.
Starting all three games so far in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations, she has arguably been in the form of her life in a white shirt leading both the try-scoring and points-scoring charts for the tournament, with her six tries seeing her sit on 30 points.
As well as her passion on the pitch, she says social media can be a powerful tool and posts her unique photography on her Instagram under @elliekfilms.
“I live a pretty cool life playing for England with my friends and we have a huge fan base. I posted a video after we lost the World Cup final in New Zealand and the comments in response were just what I needed to bring me up. You feel alone at times like that and need an arm around you. To have that support, words from the heart from people you don’t know, that’s what motivates me to keep doing my best, to make them all proud.”
She’s also proud to be quirky. “I love weird, just run with it, having an image is important, being confident in that image, of whatever makes you, you. If I want to wear double denim and have boxers underneath that’s fine, I want everyone to be themselves and live their best lives. Just own it, then you’ll own the room you walk into.
Out injured last season she took her camera along to training. “It allowed me to be there capturing people having fun, being happy, and gave me a buzz. I love being able to capture people’s personality.”
Hers is, according to mum Alison “strong, free spirited, creative, determined and dedicated.”
All of which makes her the role model she is for young girls who want to live their best lives too.
