England coach John Mitchell praised “special” fullback Ellie Kirdinne after his semi-final effort in France.
The UK was forced to fight against the physical French side, but reached the World Cup final in Bristol in the top 35-17.
The key to their success was Kildunne. He won two great attempts and opened up French defenses to show why she was a real world rugby player of the year, making it easy to see.
“She’s special,” Mitchell told a post-game press conference.
“She deserves praise for being World Player of the Year last year. She’s still very young.
“Everyone puts her on a poster, (she) is a superstar, but she is a very humble girl.
“She’s not the woman who’s putting your (A) box in. She’s inspired by autonomy and only needs a little. She’s on a pedestal and it’s so new to her live, so she handles life very well.
“It’s really important that we support her in this field, but we can also help her follow her goals.”
Kildun left the field early in Bristol and Mitchell was unaware of the details of the injury, but he was not told it was either serious or would keep her out of next week’s final.
He was pleased with the gritty performance, but Mitchell wanted to point out that his work was not finished as England was about to win his third World Cup title.
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“We’ve earned the right to compete in the final,” he said.
“It’s a new game now. No one really remembers the way you get there.
“We’ll be keeping the process up again, focusing, and having a short week. We’ll recover, have fun and enjoy the week with it being in our country.
“Two best teams in the world, how good is that?”