{"id":123800,"date":"2025-09-08T22:42:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T22:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/123800\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T22:42:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T22:42:09","slug":"ellie-kildunne-emma-sing-or-helena-rowland-who-replaces-england-star-for-rugby-world-cup-quarter-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/123800\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellie Kildunne: Emma Sing or Helena Rowland – who replaces England star for Rugby World Cup quarter-final"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sing featured off the bench in England’s opening win against the United States in Sunderland and played in the record victory over Samoa.<\/a><\/p>\n

Her dead-eye kicking for the posts is a big strength, but that is unlikely to be needed against Scotland given the form of fly-half Zoe Harrison.<\/p>\n

Kildunne and Sing are the two specialist full-backs in the squad, but with only 12 caps, the Gloucester-Hartpury kicker remains inexperienced at the highest level.<\/p>\n

Dropping in at first-receiver and being an extra playmaker is a skill that Sing has continued to develop under Mitchell, with her running game also more evident.<\/p>\n

Utility back Helena Rowland was England’s starting full-back at the World Cup in 2022 before an injury ruled her out of the final, which Kildunne started and scored in.<\/p>\n

An impressive record 27 points from fly-half against Samoa and a superb performance off the bench from full-back when Kildunne went off on Sunday might sway the decision in Rowland’s favour.<\/p>\n

Covering multiple backline positions on the bench has been Rowland’s regular role under Mitchell, but with 43 caps and a World Cup semi-final start at full-back, the 25-year-old looks more polished than Sing for knockout rugby.<\/p>\n

“If I was coach, I’d pick Helena Rowland,” former England wing Ugo Monye told the BBC’s Rugby Union Weekly.<\/a> “We know that a high-performing team needs the spine of the team to perform really well.<\/p>\n

“She’s one of the most understated world-class players at this tournament. The biggest compliment I can give her is she makes everyone look so much better. Everyone functions so much better around her.<\/p>\n

“She’s so easy to work with and being so dominant at 15 it takes pressure off her wingers, whether that is Jess Breach, Abby Dow or Claudia Moloney-MacDonald.”<\/p>\n

Former England fly-half Katy Daley-McLean also feels Rowland is the natural fit to replace Kildunne on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Defensively, where Sing has sometimes struggled, Rowland thrived against Australia.<\/p>\n

One such moment was during the second half when she made a superb tackle on Wallaroos’ wing Maya Stewart, despite being isolated out wide and up against a player with greater pace.<\/p>\n

“England want to defend high which left her [Rowland] really vulnerable,” Daley-McLean added.<\/p>\n

“I thought Helena was really good. Ellie won’t be playing so it gives them an opportunity to see Emma Sing in there, but I can’t see her featuring further in the semi-finals or the final.”<\/p>\n

If Kildunne, who turned 26 on Monday, comes through her mandatory minimum 12-day stand-down period without showing further concussion symptoms, she will be fit for a potential semi-final on Saturday, 20 September.<\/p>\n

However it pans out, Mitchell has options at his disposal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sing featured off the bench in England’s opening win against the United States in Sunderland and played in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-123800","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}