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Millie David on why Bristol's winless run is building her as a player
Watching England win the Rugby World Cup has only fuelled Millie David’s desire to break into the Red Roses squad.
David, who is also eligible to play for Australia, watched John Mitchell’s side win the trophy at Allianz Stadium from a hospitality box and the winning moment and atmosphere has only added to her international ambitions.
The wing was the Premiership Women’s Rugby breakout star of the season last campaign and it earned her a call-up to England camp just before the 2025 Women’s Six Nations. However, despite being named in Mitchell’s latest 47-player squad to assemble at Pennyhill Park today, she has not yet won a cap.
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“You can’t really describe the feeling of the amount of people that were there, all of the lights, it was just amazing,” the 20-year-old says. “To think that is what I am striving to be in the next cycle, it was a little bit emotional and just exciting.
“Watching that whole game, I was just having the best time. It was so cool to watch. I was a bit scared when Canada scored first but it was an amazing experience. You are not going to forget that.
“Yeah definitely [it has fuelled my fire to play for England]. I think after I went in during their pre-season, to see how hard they work and being able to work that hard with them it made me think ‘this is where I want to be’. It is so inspiring to see how much work they put in but from the inside, not just seeing it from the games.
“Seeing each training day at camp, how hard everyone is working. Then to follow that up with seeing them win the World Cup, it’s exactly what I want to be doing so I will work as hard as I can to get there.”
While David has not yet played a senior international game, she is competing against and alongside World Cup stars every week in England’s PWR, including in the same club colours as many for Bristol Bears.
Bristol signed Ruahei Demant, who won player of the year in 2022, in November but the New Zealand star is yet to taste victory in a Bristol shirt with the south west club currently on a run of six consecutive losses. Bristol also are sitting in eighth with only Leicester Tigers below them in the table.
The run of form is something the team are trying to rectify over this month-long break the PWR are taking in January, David adds. Bristol’s next game is on Sunday 1st February against Sale Sharks.
PWR
P
W
L
D
PF
PA
PD
BP T
BP-7
BP
Total
1
Saracens Women
8
7
1
0
35
2
Gloucester-Hartpury Women RFC
7
7
0
0
35
3
Harlequins Women
7
4
3
0
23
4
Exeter Chiefs Women
7
3
2
2
22
5
Loughborough Lightning
7
3
2
2
21
6
Trailfinders Women
7
3
3
1
20
7
Sale Sharks Women
7
1
5
1
12
8
Bristol Bears Women
7
1
6
0
5
9
Leicester Tigers Women
7
0
7
0
1
“I think it is difficult,” she says. “Last year everything was going so well so quickly, for me individually as well. My growth and experience accelerated. So it was quite hard to go from that to the spot we are in now where we are not winning the games and I am not getting as many opportunities on the ball. It is really difficult.
“I think the whole team has been really positive about it. A silver lining is that because we are not winning as many and we are having to defend a lot more, it means I can work on my defence.
“There are always going to be different areas of the game to work on and I think last year I didn’t really get to develop that as much because we always had the ball and we were good at getting the ball and keeping it. So it has been hard but I think it is actually going to do a lot for me as a player in the long run to develop all of the other attributes to being a winger. Not just running fast and scoring tries.”
Despite not having as many opportunities to show her scoring prowess, David is still the joint-top try scorer in the PWR this season with six scores.
“I actually didn’t realise that so that is nice to hear,” David says. “I think it does feel a bit more like pressure because I am not necessarily getting as many opportunities to make the most of them. So I think it probably drives my motivation for when I do get the ball, I am all guns blazing and doing all that I can.”
One of the six tries she has scored this season was a beauty at the Big Game at Allianz Stadium. She shrugged off two defenders, one being Sports Personality of the Year runner-up Ellie Kildunne, to dot down during her first game at the home of English rugby.
David adds: “For me I just wanted to enjoy it. I had never played at Twickenham before and I was so excited to just be at that stadium. The fact all of that [the try] has happened is just a bonus.
“When we first got to the stadium before anyone was there and we walked out, you don’t actually realise how big it is. I have been to Allianz lots of times before to watch the Red Roses but being on the level of the pitch, it is so enormous.
“It was a bit overwhelming but I think everyone was so excited. Being in the huddle before kick-off, Abbie [Ward] was obviously talking but I was in such a good mood. I was thinking ‘no matter how this game goes, this is just so cool to be here.'”
David has not just been marking herself out as one of the best wingers in the league over the past few seasons, she has also been studying a maths degree at the University of the West of England.
She has been completing her degree full-time alongside all of her rugby commitments and David says it has been a difficult juggle at times.
“It is really hard,” she says. “In my first year I would’ve said it was hard and then in my second year it was ten times harder. Now I am in my final year, it is a million times harder!
“It is really difficult but I am on the last stretch, there are only a couple of months left. Time management is the biggest one for me because there is no spare time. You need to know where you need to be and it is hard to stay energised. If I stay all day at uni and then I go to training it is hard to keep my energy up.
“The fact I have gotten this far it would be crazy to give up now so it is going to take a lot of hard work but I think I will be so grateful for it afterwards. I am just so proud of myself because it is really difficult.”
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