{"id":34508,"date":"2025-09-08T20:25:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T20:25:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/ellie-kildunne-emma-sing-or-helena-rowland-who-replaces-england-star-for-rugby-world-cup-quarter-final\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T20:25:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T20:25:26","slug":"ellie-kildunne-emma-sing-or-helena-rowland-who-replaces-england-star-for-rugby-world-cup-quarter-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/ellie-kildunne-emma-sing-or-helena-rowland-who-replaces-england-star-for-rugby-world-cup-quarter-final\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellie Kildunne: Emma Sing or Helena Rowland &#8211; who replaces England star for Rugby World Cup quarter-final"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Sing featured off the bench in England&#8217;s opening win against the United States in Sunderland and played in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/cqjynzvq0j0o\" class=\"ssrcss-k8mrr8-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">record victory over Samoa.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">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<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">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<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">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<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Utility back Helena Rowland was England&#8217;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<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">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&#8217;s favour.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Covering multiple backline positions on the bench has been Rowland&#8217;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<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;If I was coach, I&#8217;d pick Helena Rowland,&#8221;  former England wing Ugo Monye told the BBC&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sounds\/play\/p0m1fy5f\" class=\"ssrcss-k8mrr8-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">Rugby Union Weekly.<\/a> &#8220;We know that a high-performing team needs the spine of the team to perform really well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;She&#8217;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<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;She&#8217;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Former England fly-half Katy Daley-McLean also feels Rowland is the natural fit to replace Kildunne on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Defensively, where Sing has sometimes struggled, Rowland thrived against Australia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">One such moment was during the second half when she made a superb tackle on Wallaroos&#8217; wing Maya Stewart, despite being isolated out wide and up against a player with greater pace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;England want to defend high which left her [Rowland] really vulnerable,&#8221; Daley-McLean added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I thought Helena was really good. Ellie won&#8217;t be playing so it gives them an opportunity to see Emma Sing in there, but I can&#8217;t see her featuring further in the semi-finals or the final.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">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<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">However it pans out, Mitchell has options at his disposal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/cn5qw5w3el9o?at_medium=RSS&#038;at_campaign=rss\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sing featured off the bench in England&#8217;s opening win against the United States in Sunderland and played in the record victory over Samoa. 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. Kildunne and Sing are the two [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34508"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34510,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34508\/revisions\/34510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}