“So on a size five ball, it is what we have known all of our lives and I’ve been in the game quite a little while now, I have a certain process that I stick to every throw. I start with my feet, I put my hands in a certain position every time so, with that ball being slightly smaller, I have just tried to figure out what the sweet spot is for me.
“When I first started throwing the ball, they got there but they looked ugly as anything. That has been really interesting. But having that time with the ball it is coming out a lot cleaner now. It took some time to get used to but I feel like I am slowly getting there.
“Speaking with a few of the kickers, obviously, being a smaller ball, when they are trying to find that sweet spot it is just a lot smaller so there is obviously a lot less room for error. I think the kickers have had it the toughest, then hookers and then everyone else. It isn’t drastically different and it does allow you to move the ball and have the confidence with ball in hand. So a mixed bag of emotions.”
Kildunne has found handling largely the same but has struggled when kicking. While the 27-year-old doesn’t kick at goal, out of hand it is an attacking string to her bow.
“It is harder to do a spiral bomb,” she says. “I will say that is the one thing I am frustrated about. It is harder to spiral because it is a smaller surface area. That’s fine, I will just have to relearn how to hit that spiral with the ball that we have got.
“I don’t always spiral, I can go end over end, and it’s just that adjusting piece. I have taught myself how to spiral before and I will teach myself how to spiral again.”
The full-back said, however, that she did not anticipate any major problems with the trial. The Red Roses are on a 38-game winning streak and have won the past eight Women’s Six Nations trophies as well as the World Cup last year.
“The 4.5 it isn’t actually that different,” Kildunne adds. “This week we are training with match balls and it feels a lot grippier and I have been able to offload it a little bit more, but it’s just a ball.
“I don’t really think of the differences or I’ll start making differences in the way that I play. If anything it flies a little bit different when it is being kicked, which takes a little bit of adjustment. I think it is a talking point because people are finding things to talk about but, at the end of the day, it is just a ball and you are going to have to get used to it. We didn’t have a problem with the fives, we won’t have a problem with the 4.5s.”
Fixtures in the series include a rerun of the World Cup final when England take on Canada on 19 September, while Scotland host the Black Ferns for the first time on the same day, Ireland play South Africa for the second time in their history on 24 October and Wales play two Tests in Japan in October. Let the games begin.
World Rugby is expanding its trials of a new size 4.5 ball for women’s rugby. Photograph: World Rugby
