{"id":368722,"date":"2025-08-24T02:42:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T02:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/368722\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T02:42:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T02:42:19","slug":"ellie-kildunne-believes-england-clicked-into-gear-after-break-against-usa-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/368722\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellie Kildunne believes England clicked into gear after break against USA \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ellie Kildunne felt England grew into the game more and more as it went on after opening their Women\u2019s World Cup campaign with a 69-7 victory over the United States in Sunderland.<\/p>\n

The Red Roses kicked off the tournament with an 11-try win against the USA and took an early lead through Sadia Kabeya and Hannah Botterman before Erica Jarrell-Searcy pulled one back.<\/p>\n

After Alev Kelter was shown a yellow card, Maud Muir and Kildunne scored in quick succession for the hosts to lead 28-7 at half-time.<\/p>\n

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The link up between Ellie Kildunne and Jess Breach \ud83d\udc4c<\/p>\n

Watch trylights from our Rugby World Cup opener below<\/p>\n

\u2014 Red Roses (@RedRosesRugby) August 23, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

England improved further in the second half and a ruthless display saw seven more tries scored as Abby Dow, Kildunne and Amy Cokayne all crossed, while Jess Breach and Lark Atkin-Davies bagged braces.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/a>\"Dublin<\/a><\/p>\n

Kildunne said: \u201cIt was a game definitely of two halves, we found our way and fixed things coming into the second half.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a game to kick off, not just how we played and how the USA played, but the crowd and the atmosphere was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The game was played out in front of a tournament-record crowd of 42,723 at the Stadium of Light and Kildunne won player of the match for her relentless work rate, where she scored two tries.<\/p>\n

\"EllieEllie Kildunne crossed twice against the United States (Mike Egerton\/PA) <\/p>\n

She was ever-present in England\u2019s formidable back three, who combined four times to score and the full-back praised the work of a \u201ctight unit\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a back three we\u2019ve played together a long time,\u201d Kildunne added.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven with the depth we\u2019ve got with Emma Sing and Claudia (Moloney-MacDonald) as well, we\u2019re a tight unit, we train really hard together, we know how each other play, we know the speeds of each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen someone\u2019s running down the wing it\u2019s about supporting them and being that touch if you need to.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sunderland, you were amazing \u2764\ufe0f \ud83c\udf39 #RedRoses<\/a> | #RWC2025<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/8xStnj8KRV<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Red Roses (@RedRosesRugby) August 22, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In one of her finest moments, Kildunne put her football skills to the test, controlling the ball with her thigh while charging down the wing before offloading to Breach to score.<\/p>\n

Speaking about that moment, she said: \u201cIt is instinct. I can\u2019t say I meant to do it on my thigh but I saw it curving towards the touchline.<\/p>\n

\u201cI needed to put a body part there to catch it. It just so happened to be my thigh.\u201d<\/p>\n

England are tournament favourites and after earning their first win of the competition, they face Samoa next Saturday.<\/p>\n

\"EllieEllie Kildunne scoring England\u2019s sixth try (Owen Humphreys\/PA) <\/p>\n

\u201cYou take confidence from every game, you learn from every game and now it\u2019s onto the next one,\u201d Kildunne said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat can we learn from this, how can we progress? We know Samoa is going to be a different opponent and we\u2019re ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The United States had shown flashes of promise particularly at the start of the game and skipper Kate Zackary insisted her side will remember the \u201csmall wins\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the pitch, the main thing we talked about was there\u2019s still two more games, as we mentioned, it\u2019s pool play and we can\u2019t go into a dark space,\u201d Zackary said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only day one of the tournament. For us it\u2019s about remembering the small wins, Erica again had that breakaway try.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stole some lineouts, scrums we cleaned up a little bit, but once we did get the detail right we also held England at that area.\u201d<\/p>\n