Ellie Kildunne (born 8 September 1999) is an English

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. She is a member of the England women's national rugby union team and plays for Harlequins Women at club level.

International career

Kildunne's England debut came in 2017, when she scored a try for the England 15s in a match against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. After an impressive performance in the Tyrrells Premier 15s, she was called up to start five of England's

2018 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2018 Women's Six Nations Championship, also known as the 2018 RBS Women's Six Nations sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 17th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition between six Europ ...

matches. She was named Player of the Match after England's win over Ireland. In the summer of 2018, Kildunne transitioned to England Women's Sevens team as it fought to - and did - qualify for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. Kildunne made her return to XVs rugby but missed the first two events of the 2019 World Series due to injury. She went on to play eight of England's matches of the competition and scored three tries for her country. She was part of the team that won the

2020 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2020 Women's Six Nations Championship was the 19th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition between six European rugby union national teams. Matches were originally scheduled for February and ...

, which was postponed until late 2020 due to the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. She also played in the

2021 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2021 Women's Six Nations Championship was the 20th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition between England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The 2021 tournament was given a change o ...

s, which England won. She was named in the England squad for the delayed

2021 Rugby World Cup The 2021 Rugby World Cup was the ninth staging of the women's Rugby World Cup, as organised by World Rugby. It was held from 8 October to 12 November 2022 in Auckland and Whangārei, New Zealand. It was originally scheduled to be held in 2021, ...

held in New Zealand in October and November 2022.

Club career

Kildunne began playing

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

for Keighley Albion and

for

Keighley RUFC Keighley Rugby Union Football Club is a Rugby Union club based in Keighley, West Yorkshire, England. The club currently play in Yorkshire 1. Club history Keighley R.U.F.C. (or the Keighlians Old Boys R.U.F.C. as it was originally named) was ...

before moving on to West Park,

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, and then

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins the ...

. She joined

Premier 15s The Premier 15s, currently known for sponsorship purposes as the Allianz Premier 15s, is the top tier of the women's English rugby union domestic league system run by the Rugby Football Union (RFU). The league was created mainly from teams in t ...

team Gloucester-Hartpury for the 2017/18 season. She signed for Wasps in September 2020.

Early life and education

Kildunne grew up in West Yorkshire and started playing rugby aged seven. She played rugby league for Keighley Albion as well as rugby union for

, where she was the only girl on the pitch. She was also a keen footballer, but went down the rugby route when she enrolled at

Hartpury College Hartpury University and Hartpury College, formerly Hartpury College, is a provider of further and higher education which describes itself as specialising in the "agriculture, animal, equine, sport and veterinary nursing" sectors. The university a ...

after finishing school. At Under 18 level, Kildunne captained the Yorkshire team and represented the England Under 18 side at sevens.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kildunne, Ellie 1999 births Living people England women's international rugby union players English female rugby league players English female rugby union players Rugby league players from Rotherham Rugby union players from Rotherham Harlequins Women rugby players Gloucester-Hartpury Women players Wasps Women rugby players Alumni of Hartpury College Rugby union centres Rugby union fullbacks