Ellie no longer has that empty feeling as record crowd attends Slam decider

THE last time the Red Roses played at Twickenham, they sang the national anthem to rows of rugby shirts covering empty seats.

- Nick Purewal

Tomorrow, Simon Middleton’s side will belt out God Save The King in front of more than 53,000 paying punters packed into English rugby’s headquarters for a Six Nations Grand Slam decider against France.

England beat France 25-23 behind closed doors at Twickenham in November 2020, with club jerseys covering seats in a pandemic initiative to bring the absent fans closer to the action.

Fast forward less than three years, and England will set a new world record for a women’s Test-match crowd this weekend.

“It doesn’t feel that long ago we were singing the anthem to shirts that had been put onto seats,” full-back Ellie Kildunne told Standard Sport.

“We were pretending we had a crowd to sing to. The turnaround’s been epic, people have really got behind us. The World Cup really showed what women’s rugby is all about.

“But now to have the opportunity to play at Twickenham, it is really showing how many people are actually interested.”