Ellie Kildunne will not return to Harlequins next season, and the England star says she still does not know where she will play her club rugby next. The 26-year-old said she is close to deciding what comes next, but not close enough to give people an answer.

Harlequins confirmed on Tuesday that Kildunne would not be back at the Twickenham Stoop for the 2025/26 Premiership Women’s Rugby season after a five-year stay in west London. The announcement came only days after she had helped define one of the club’s most successful eras, and it immediately turned attention to where one of the most recognizable players in the women’s game might land.

Kildunne addressed the uncertainty on her Rugby Rodeo podcast, saying she does not know what club to play for yet and that she is in a position where she does not have answers for people. She added that she is “pretty close” to knowing what she wants to do and that it is about finding the right environment. In the middle of the uncertainty, she and England team-mate Jess Breach joked that she might be playing for Barnes.

Her exit matters beyond one club because Kildunne is not moving as an ordinary squad player. She scored 52 tries in 60 games for Harlequins, won World Rugby Women’s 15s Player of the Year during her time there and later helped England win the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025. She was also runner-up at Sports Personality of the Year last year, which has made her one of the most watched names in the sport.

Kildunne also posted on Instagram on Tuesday that she was gutted to be leaving the club, a word that captured the distance between the celebration around her achievements and the uncertainty over what happened behind the scenes. A report said timekeeping issues and a breakdown in her relationship with head coach Ross Chisholm were among the factors that pushed the move along, though Harlequins have not publicly laid out a detailed explanation. She was named Supporters’ Women’s Player of the Season on Wednesday, which only underlined how differently her departure is being received from inside the club and outside it.

The next step is still the one that matters most. Bristol Bears, Trailfinders Women and Gloucester Hartpury have all been mentioned as possible destinations, but no deal has been announced. For now, Kildunne has gone from the centre of Harlequins’ rise to the edge of the market, with the question not whether she will move, but where she will decide the right environment is waiting.