Ellie Kildunne: ‘I have had to look in the mirror quite a lot and stick to my values’

The Red Roses star with the famous curls on her shock Harlequins exit and why she can’t look too far ahead ‘because I will lose where my feet are’

E llie Kildunne has almost a decade’s worth of experience in an England shirt. Her gamechanging moments have propelled her into the spotlight and helped England’s winning dominance, including last year’s World Cup title.

The attention that brings is on full display at a windy but sunny day in Teddington as she is stopped every few steps for pictures. It is tricky to go unnoticed with her trademark curls. “I think the hair is a bit of a give away,” she says with a grin.

Kildunne’s try-scoring antics have made her the face of the all-conquering Red Roses team who are about to play six WXV Global Series matches, starting against Australia’s Wallaroos on Saturday ~in Salford. The 27-year-old’s popularity is evidenced again when a young boy comes over for a picture with the full-back.

“I’m not saying with young girls it is a given [to be asked for a selfie] but you think that is going to happen,” Kildunne says. “These young boys look up to Jonny Wilkinson. For them to come and ask me for a picture shows how rugby is changing for women. It’s crazy.”

With more eyes on the game, there is more interest when a surprising story breaks. Kildunne’s exit from Harlequins this summer came as a shock to not only fans but the player herself.

Kildunne says it was after the Women’s Six Nations that she sat down with coaches and they “came to the conclusion” she would no longer play at the club. The star says it was a “shock” and that as Quins “didn’t have the best season” she “wasn’t prepared to leave when we’re down, but things happen for a reason and maybe this is the challenge that I needed”.

She has now signed for Bristol but there were media reports that Harlequins had released Kildunne because lateness had affected her relationships with the club’s coaches.

“Obviously I have made the switch of going to Bristol with a lot spoken in the summer about that move,” Kildunne, who was diagnosed with ADHD in 2025, says. “There was a little bit of worry around the negative side of things. Why did I move? What happened? That was a little bit stressful but what that has allowed is a space where I can grow, I can get better but also coaches are starting to understand me a little bit more.

“I am not trying to be late on purpose. I am also not going to give ADHD-ers an excuse. So I have got myself a Garmin watch and that is keeping me on time, I’m making sure I’m never late. So far I have been on time to everything. Also the Bristol coaches have been brilliant. I have only been in once but even if it is just a text reminder like: ‘Hey, Ellie: you might not have seen you have this form to fill out’ and we have kind of met in the middle on that.

“I don’t rely on them to tell me things all of the time but it’s just the support I need to be the best player that I can be. I definitely can be better and I take accountability but it was a really tough time in the summer.