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Millie David was almost speechless when the England head coach, John Mitchell, called to say she would start for the Red Roses against Wales. All the wing could get out was “thank you so much” over and over, despite having more she wanted to say. On Saturday, the 20-year-old will realise her England dream at a sold-out Ashton Gate, the home ground of her club, Bristol Bears.
The first thing David did after ending the call was jump in her car to tell her No 1 fan, her dad. “Bless him he started crying straight away,” she says. “We are quite an awkward family so for him to do that in a public place as well just showed how much it meant to him.”
David’s selection in a white jersey has felt inevitable given her quick rise in the English Premiership. She made her PWR debut in the 2023-24 season and was the joint top try-scorer the following campaign. She was named breakthrough player of the season and earned the nickname Millie Whizz when friends joked she saw herself as Jason Robinson, the World Cup-winning England wing known as Billy Whizz.
David, who is in the third year of a maths degree and had to ask for a dissertation deadline extension because of a clash with her first cap, added she had put pressure on herself to be named in the 2026 Six Nations squad.
“People don’t put that much pressure on me because they know how much pressure I put on myself,” David says. “My parents didn’t put me under any pressure at school because if I did one thing wrong I would be in tears.
“I am definitely a determined person, a hard worker. Sometimes people need to tell me to chill out a little bit. I just want to be the best at everything, I want to win at everything. I do put a lot of pressure on myself and I think I could be a lot nicer to myself.”
David has played for England’s youth teams and has experienced several Red Roses camps but still separates herself from England, referring to Mitchell’s side as “they” and “this team”. She says she will only feel comfortable using “we” once she has donned the red rose on the pitch, and her inclusion is one of seven changes by Mitchell for his starting XV to play Wales. She will be joined in the back three by Claudia Moloney-MacDonald and Ellie Kildunne, a player she has long looked up to.
“I think it’s a bit weird,” David adds. “You put players you watch on TV on a pedestal. You think of them as not real people but they are just people. Ellie is so nice. The first time I ever met her I cried because I was so anxious about it, whereas now I speak to her all the time, I am going to be playing with her. It was scary at first but you do get used to it. We have been training together for four weeks now. It has been cool to develop relationships with players I have looked up to for so long.”
David, Kildunne and the rest of the England squad will aim to reach 36 wins in a row against Wales after demolishing Scotland last Saturday. The Red Roses will be favourites. Wales’s last win against England was in 2015 while Sean Lynn’s side have lost captain Kate Williams due to a calf strain.
Bethan Lewis will skipper in her stead and has said Wales have “absolutely nothing to lose” in the encounter. There is certainly no pressure on Welsh shoulders to win, but David said England are not underestimating their opposition.
“England v Wales is a historic thing,” she said. “They have developed a lot under Lynn, they have been performing really well. You can’t underestimate anyone in this competition.”
Before the action begins David will experience the anthem for the first time at senior level. Usually, players scan the crowd for loved ones, but she may avoid her dad’s gaze.
“If I do [spot him] I will be bawling my eyes out,” she said. “I know for a fact that he will be. We don’t show that much emotion but we both know we have a lot of it. He has been there with me through a lot and I have grown quite a lot as a person in the last few years. I am very grateful for what he has done for me.”
