Kildunne says 'no reason' England can't win Rugby World Cup again / Photo: Adrian Dennis - AFP
Kildunne says 'no reason' England can't win Rugby World Cup again
Full-back Ellie Kildunne says there is "no reason" why England cannot win the next Women's Rugby World Cup after their triumph over Canada.
England's commanding 33-13 victory in front of a capacity crowd at Twickenham on Saturday extended their record run to 33 successive wins and went some way to easing the pain of several narrow defeats in World Cup finals.
The Red Roses have four years until they defend their title in Australia, with Kildunne knowing England will now be the game's prize scalp.
"If we have the ambition to keep on getting better in every training session and every game, there is no reason why we can't win a World Cup again," she said.
"It is long time away and there will be people chasing our tails. Everyone wants to knock off the top team, everyone wants to be a World Cup champion...
"We want to be an entertaining team, we want to score tries from every single corner of the pitch because we want more fans to come down."
Kildunne did her best to live up to those words on Saturday, with a typically scintillating run leading to a superb solo try that saw the 26-year-old sweep past six defenders.
- 'Fight or flight' -
"I'm an instinctive player and there are people in front of me I have to try and avoid," said Kildunne.
"It's fight or flight, and I'm in flight trying to avoid as many people as I can to get over the line.
"I'm a full-back and finisher and that's my job. In the same way your props are expected to scrum, your back three are expected to score.
"It was just one of those moments and I was just proud to put the team on the board. It's pretty cool scoring in front of 82,000 people."
England had just one win to show from six successive previous appearances in the final, including an agonising last-ditch loss to New Zealand in 2022.
"Of course I didn't want to feel the way I did at the last World Cup, but in my head that was never going to happen because it's a new tournament," said Kildunne. "We were here to win."
She added: "I don't feel the pressure in the first place. Pressure just means people care. It's about setting an expectation that people expect you to meet.
"I love the pressure, I love that people want to come to watch us, that people expect me to play well. And the team as well.
"There's no sense of relief, I always believed we would do well in this tournament."
R.Walker--PI
