She's the poster girl. She's the former World Player of the Year. She came second at BBC Sports Personality of the Year. She lit up the 2025 Rugby World Cup. She's even got her own Barbie doll.

So why isn't Ellie Kildunne starting for England against the USA on Friday night (21:15 kick-off)?

First of all she is human, let's not forget that.

We're all allowed ups and downs. It's just that Kildunne's dip comes with the large spotlight of her being the Red Roses' household name.

None of her team-mates come close to her popularity with fans both in and outside rugby union with her 239,000 Instagram followers. Her face and name are used for clicks by all the media, present company included.

However, if you follow the sport and watch her play, no-one is undroppable.

England suffered their first loss in four years to end their 41-Test unbeaten streak in Toronto against Canada. In that fixture and their previous match with the same opposition in Exeter, Kildunne, 27, was a target for the opposition. She was never given space, defenders stepped up, her arms were pulled and balls were spilt.

When England head coach John Mitchell benched her after England's loss in Toronto he was clear that "it isn't disputed that she adds huge value".

However, he went on to add: "She's just going through a difficult period at the moment, and it's important for us to help her through that.

"She wants to become consistent as well, and she'll get back. It's also important to create competition and to recognise that you have to become more consistent, especially when you're competing in the Red Roses.

"So it's really important to reinforce the behaviours that we think are necessary to our game, and that goes for everyone."

The key word we can take from that is "consistent" - mainly because Mitchell said it twice.

Kildunne remains one of the world's most phenomenal players when it comes to gainline success and metres gained.

Much of this is due to poor opposition defence, but her statistics show a decline over the past three seasons at international level.

It seems almost harsh to highlight as these are numbers other players could only dream of but she's also gone from beating an average of six defenders a game in 2024, to 4.2 in 2026.