England Red Roses World Cup winner Ellie Kildunne has said it is "harsh" to say she was dropped during their recent tour of North America, claiming she was just given a "different role."

The 27-year-old, who was named 2024's World Player of the Year and finished second to Rory McIlroy as 2025's BBC Sports Personality of the Year, played a starring role as the Red Roses clinched World Cup glory on home soil last year.

But during 2026's Global WXV series, full-back Kildunne was dropped from the starting side following defeat to Canada in Toronto - a first Red Roses loss for four years and 41 Tests.

Head coach John Mitchell revealed at the time Kildunne was "going through a difficult period" in the search for consistency.

Despite the Red Roses losing again to Canada in Ottawa, Kildunne remained on the bench for England's closing Test and emphatic victory over the USA.

"I think the word 'dropped' is probably a bit harsh," Kildunne said on Wednesday. "I still played the game, I was still part of the team, I still came on the pitch, so in no way have I been dropped. I've just been given a different role.

"Of course, finding depth in the team is very important and I've been fortunate to play a lot of rugby and have a lot of minutes under my belt.

"People are going to say whatever they want to say because everyone wants a headline and everyone wants the clickbait that they're going to read.

"I saw 'Kildunne's been dropped' and I was like: 'I'm still in America, so obviously I've not been dropped'."

Upon removing her from the starting side last month, Mitchell highlighted form, consistency and behaviours.

He said: "Well, firstly it's undisputed that she adds huge value. She's just going through a difficult period at the moment. 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."

For Kildunne, who will make her debut for Bristol Bears in the Premiership Women's Rugby next week following an acrimonious departure from Harlequins, she says her main learning from 2026 is to "block out the noise."

"What's really been a learning point from the tour, away from rugby, is being able to block out that noise," she said. "I've been so used to the positive comments throughout my career and as soon as you don't score one try, people seem to be against you.

"I want to be a consistent player and that might not always look like scoring. Whether for the past few years I've consistently scored, it doesn't mean that I've played badly if I haven't scored.

"That's what people have seen and rated me on: the line-breaks and the tries, but the game doesn't work like that. Everyone's evolving and getting better.

"I'm happy with my performances this year. I've had to learn a lot as a player and work out a lot. Ultimately, I don't get the space that I once had so I can't always make the 60-metre line breaks.

"I think I'm very good at balancing what I'm doing, whether it's media or training and how to do them. But I guess from the outside, people always think that you don't have the balance right.

"I think as long as you know that you're a rugby player and that's the thing that you need to focus on and you're true to that, then there should be never anything to question. But I feel like externals love to find something that could potentially be wrong.

"I've probably had that period of working it out and I'm definitely in a space now where you do have to say no to things."