England full-back Ellie Kildunne, a figurehead for the Crimson Roses’ Rugby World Cup win final 12 months, is to go away Harlequins on the finish of the season.
The 26-year-old joined Quins from Wasps in 2021 and has scored 52 tries in 60 appearances.
Harlequins have been the defending Premiership Girls’s Rugby champions in Kildunne’s debut season, however the membership have been overtaken by the likes of Gloucester-Hartpury and Saracens because the preeminent sides within the home recreation.
Quins have missed out on the play-offs this season. They’ve made the semi-finals solely twice in Kildunne’s 5 seasons at The Stoop.
Kildunne’s subsequent membership is but to be introduced.
She was not quoted on Harlequins’ announcement of her transfer, however posted a message to Instagram. , exterior
“After 5 years at Quins, it is exhausting to place into phrases how a lot this place has meant to me,” she wrote.
“I’ve shared so many moments right here – on the sector, within the altering room, and with friendships that can stick with me lengthy after I go away.
“I’ve all the time tried to be the perfect participant I may be, giving all the things I’ve each time I step onto the pitch.
“For me, that is all the time been about being in the appropriate atmosphere – one the place I may be unapologetically myself and work with those that really worth every particular person and what they create to the staff.
“I am extremely grateful to the supporters and my team-mates who’ve impressed me to play the rugby I really like.
“Issues might not all the time be in our management, and I am gutted to be leaving, I want everybody at Quins the perfect for what’s subsequent.”
In October, Kildunne mentioned she was open to the potential of becoming a member of the breakaway R360 sequence, which aimed to recruit the largest names from each the boys’s and girls’s recreation.
The F1-style international circuit has been compelled to postpone its launch to 2028 on the earliest after issue gaining World Rugby ratification and fierce opposition from nationwide unions.
Harlequins chief government Laurie Dalrymple mentioned he was assured that the membership’s girls’s programme would compete on the high finish of the sport once more.
“Ellie has helped encourage a era of feminine gamers – a few of whom are actually coming by our pathway – and we’re assured the way forward for Harlequins Girls is vivid,” he mentioned.
“We need to want Ellie each success sooner or later and thank her for her contribution to the membership, and the ladies’s recreation.”
Kildunne, who was named World Participant of the 12 months in 2024 and scored 5 tries, together with an excellent solo effort within the last towards Canada, ultimately 12 months’s World Cup, will not be the one big-name England participant on the transfer.
Sale have signed England captain Zoe Stratford and her worldwide team-mate Tatyana Heard for subsequent season.
Reigning champions Gloucester-Hartpury, Saracens, Exeter and Ealing Trailfinders will contest this season’s PWR play-offs, with the semi-finals to be performed on Sunday 14 June.
