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Five young English stars to look out for in Premiership Women’s Rugby
By Joe Harvey
Premiership Women’s Rugby‘s 2025/26 season starts on Friday 24 October with a clash between Harlequins and Loughborough Lightning.
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This latest season of women’s domestic top flight rugby in England starts a month after the Red Roses won the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup.
A number of those World Cup winners will be back in action for their clubs sooner rather than later, but there are also a host of new faces that will want to make a name for themselves and be among the next raft of world champions.
Here are five English players to keep your eye on in PWR this season:
Millie David (Bristol Bears)
It is safe to say that Bristol Bears’ Millie David has already made an impact in PWR.
Last season the 20-year-old centre and wing scored 17 tries in the league, joint-top with Saracens’ May Campbell, and was named that year’s PWR Breakthrough Player of the Season.
In March she was called up to John Mitchell’s senior Red Roses squad but did not gain a first cap for the country she has represented at age grade level.
Most recently David turned out for England at Under-20s in the 2025 Six Nations Summer Series but is also eligible for Australia. England may have to act soon to lock down the livewire’s Test future.
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Haineala Lutui (Loughborough Lightning)
Earlier this year Loughborough Lightning’s Haineala Lutui won her first England U20s cap in the second round of the 2025 Six Nations Summer Series.
A combative and hard to pin down No.8, the 19-year-old will be looking to break into Nathan Smith’s matchday 23 this season.
Lutui is the daughter of former Tonga international, Aleki, who represented his country and three Rugby World Cups and took up rugby in her early teens before being picked up by the Worcester Warriors Centre of Excellence.
Ahead of the new domestic season getting underway she has been called upon by her head coach in the PWR Cup and it would not be a surprise to see the teen in the back-row alongside Sadia Kabeya and Daisy Hibbert-Jones at some stage this season.
Sarah Parry (Harlequins)
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As soon as Sarah Parry made her Worcester Warriors debut as a 17-year-old it was clear she was a talent.
Now, two years down the line and just shy of her 20th birthday, the Shrewsbury-born centre is coming into her own.
Alongside ex-England centre Lagi Tuima in the recent PWR Cup competition, the notion of the back being capped in the next edition of the Guinness Women’s Six Nations is not unrealistic.
The hard-running, mid Wales raised centre has already taken part in numerous senior England training camps and seems set for a landmark domestic season at the Stoop.
Joia Bennett (Saracens)
High work-rate. Athleticism. Explosive. Dynamic.
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Those certainly seem like the traits you would want of a back-row forward. They were also the traits listed by Saracens when 21-year-old Joia Bennett penned a new deal at StoneX Stadium in the summer.
Now aged 21, and fresh from an impressive individual campaign in the Six Nations Summer Series, seemingly the time is now for Bennett to stake her claim for a regular starting jersey.
One of numerous young stars coming through the clubs ranks, Bennett has the likes of Marlie Packer, Sophie de Goede and Poppy Cleall to learn from, and hone her craft alongside before going alone.
Millie Hyett (Gloucester Hartpury)
The final highly-touted talent on this list is Gloucester Hartpury’s Millie Hyett.
At 20 she has already got two years’ worth of senior rugby behind her with her club side, two PWR titles and captained her country’s U20s side in the 2025 Women’s Six Nations Women’s Summer Series.
Already a proven quantity in domestic competition, she has an impressive versatility that has seen her utilised across the midfield.
Such is her ability you back Hyett to look at home in whatever shirt she dons at the weekend.
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