Kildunne wants to get teeth into gold

CROSS-CODE star Ellie Kildunne says Great Britain 'would not to be stupid strive for a gold medal' given the quality of their squad.

- BEN JAYCOCK

Team GB, currently eighth in the world sevens rankings, lost out to Canada and Fiji respectively in the bronze-medal matches in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

GB qualified for Paris in June last year by winning gold at the European Games in Krakow, beating hosts Poland 33-0 in the final, but they lost 19-5 to France last month in the Hamburg showpiece, the last tournament before the Olympics.

Harlequins winger Kildunne, voted player of the tournament when England's 15s sealed a third straight Six Nations Grand Slam earlier this year, is included in Team GB's 12-strong squad which is captained by Emma Uren.

Kildunne, the top try-scorer in the Six Nations with nine in five matches, is joined by fellow Red Roses star Meg Jones.

Ciaran Beattie's side face Ireland today in their opening pool match at the Stade de France and Kildunne's sights are fixed on a medal.

She said: "As long as we put ourselves in the best place possible, do what we know we can do and do our jobs really well, something special is going to happen. I'm looking forward to that moment because I can feel it.

The screws are tightening.

"Going to Paris is special anyway, but we'd be stupid not to strive for gold. We're professional athletes, of course we'll strive for gold.

"But as long as we put our best performance out there, and leave nothing out there, I'll be proud of every single person on the pitch.