{"id":62954,"date":"2025-08-12T16:30:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T16:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/62954\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T16:30:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T16:30:10","slug":"england-star-inspired-by-the-lionesses-seeks-to-become-rugbys-chloe-kelly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/62954\/","title":{"rendered":"England star ‘inspired by the Lionesses’ seeks to become rugby’s Chloe Kelly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

World player of the year Ellie Kildunne<\/a> intends to emulate Lionesses star Chloe Kelly by ensuring her name is printed on fans\u2019 shirts following the Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n

The Harlequins full-back is brimming with confidence ahead of her country\u2019s quest for global glory on home soil and has taken inspiration from England\u2019s footballers retaining the European Championship title.<\/p>\n

Arsenal forward Kelly played a starring role in the Euro 2025 triumph in Switzerland after propelling herself into the limelight by scoring the winning goal in the Euro 2022 final at Wembley.<\/p>\n

Kildunne is key to the Red Roses\u2019 ambitions of lifting silverware at Twickenham next month and hopes the team can follow in the Lionesses\u2019 footsteps by becoming household names and raising the profile of women\u2019s sport.<\/p>\n

Fixture<\/p>\n

Women’s Rugby World Cup<\/p>\n

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England Women <\/p>\n

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USA Women <\/p>\n

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\u201cOutside this pub, there are Chloe Kelly shirts being sold on the street,\u201d Kildunne, who is supporting Asahi Super Dry\u2019s campaign to have the tournament shown in pubs across the UK, told the PA news agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what the Euros have done for the Lionesses and the opportunity we\u2019ve got with this World Cup is to have Kildunne shirts being sold on the side of the street; for young girls and boys to have posters of Emily Scarratt<\/a> and Meg Jones on their walls and not just Jonny Wilkinson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m inspired by the Lionesses and what they\u2019ve done for women\u2019s football and I hope for nothing less (for women\u2019s rugby) than what they\u2019ve been able to achieve so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

England launch the World Cup on Friday, August 22 against the United States in Sunderland and will also face Samoa and Australia in Pool A.<\/p>\n

The hosts go into the competition as rugby\u2019s top-ranked team, tournament favourites and having won the last seven Six Nations<\/a> titles.<\/p>\n

After watching Sarina Wiegman\u2019s Lionesses come from behind in each of their knockout matches this summer, Kildunne feels John Mitchell\u2019s Red Roses may require similar resilience.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir ability to keep on fighting and not giving up is something that inspires a lot of people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the Red Roses, it\u2019s something we can take inspiration from because it\u2019s not going to be straightforward, we\u2019re going to have to put a lot of graft in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t go anywhere without someone talking about the Women\u2019s World Cup or the Red Roses. We\u2019re going to have to get used to it because it\u2019s not going to slow down any time soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kildunne cemented her status as a poster girl for the tournament by being crowned world player of the year following a standout 2024 which brought 14 tries in nine Tests.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old is undaunted by the prospect of increased scrutiny.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will add that target on to my back; I see it as pressure but I don\u2019t think pressure is a bad thing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see pressure as as privilege and I definitely think it\u2019s a good thing. I use the pressure to challenge myself to exceed people\u2019s expectations and to rewrite what people may think I can do and take it to the next level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m feeling strong and confident \u2013 the most confident I\u2019ve ever felt, so I\u2019m ready and raring to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kildunne was part of the England team beaten 34-31 by New Zealand in the 2022 World Cup final following an 18th-minute red card for team-mate Lydia Thompson.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe disappointment and the heartbreak of the last World Cup reignited a flame inside me that I already thought was burning pretty bright,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve learnt so much from that tournament and built so much in our culture that we\u2019re in a completely different space.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that you can rewrite and that\u2019s something that we\u2019re very much focused on. It\u2019s not a revenge story, we\u2019re just rewriting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almost 1,000 pubs have signed up to Asahi Super Dry\u2019s Pub Pledge \u2013 a nationwide commitment to screen Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup<\/a> 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World player of the year Ellie Kildunne intends to emulate Lionesses star Chloe Kelly by ensuring her name…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-62954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}