Millie Hyett: 'I hate change - it was a big thing for me to make a move'

By her own admission Millie Hyett is not the biggest fan of change. Even though in her young career the 20-year-old has seen plenty of it.

The most recent change in her career has been a midseason move to Bristol Bears from Premiership Women’s Rugby champions Gloucester Hartpury.

After three seasons at Kingsholm the 20-year-old made the decision to cross the West Country for pastures new. It was after a spell with Great Britain Sevens on HSBC SVNS Series stops in Singapore and Perth that ultimately swayed Hyett’s decision to move.

“It’s not that anything went wrong, it wasn’t a major bust up or anything – I was just ready to move on,” Hyett told RugbyPass. “Going away to sevens made me realise there’s a bigger world outside of Hartpury.

“I wasn’t necessarily enjoying rugby as much as I have before. It made me realise that you don’t actually have much time in rugby. Your years are limited. So why stay at a place where I’m not enjoying it as much and just take the risk of moving.

“But Gloucester and Hartpury [College/University] have shaped me into the player I am today. I can’t credit them enough.

“I hate change, so it was a big thing for me personally to make a move. Bristol have been amazing with me. The coaches are lovely, the facilities are amazing and I’ve had a really fun time moving.”

Playing for Great Britain was another of those things that Hyett was originally hesitant about. Going to Singapore and Perth meant missing out on England U21 camps and two BUCS Super Rugby games for Hartpury University.

“I was like; nope, I’m not going, I don’t want to do it,” Hyett said. “But I went and it was such a good experience. Maybe on-pitch stuff wasn’t great, but you learn so much. It really opened my eyes.”

Soon enough Hyett will be competing with Meryl Smith, Emma Orr, Jenna De Vera and Chloe Daniels in the centres, and could even get a run out at fly-half after the departure of Black Ferns playmaker Ruahei Demant.

All that stands between her and a Bristol debut is time with the England U21s. It is a set-up the 20-year-old has been involved with for the past three seasons. This year she wants to be at the epicentre of LJ Lewis’ team as they take on Spain and compete in the inaugural Six Nations Women’s U21 Series.

Just like moving clubs or playing rugby sevens, lining up at outside centre was another development that Hyett took some warming to.

Upon her arrival at Hartpury University from the College she had exclusively played at fly-half. But with her tall frame England age grade coaches wanted to see what she was capable of elsewhere in the backline.

When the notion of changing positional first came up Hyett admits that she cried. Now she says it was the best possible change for her to make.

 

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In a 2024 interview with RugbyPass – just after the 20-year-old took part in her first senior Red Roses training camp – she described herself as a triple threat player as she combined her running, kicking and passing game.

“It’s crazy to think that I didn’t play 13 a year and a half ago,” Hyett chuckled. “When I first came into 20s I got moved to 13 and I was crying. I was like; I can’t do this. But it was the best move for me.

“I had maybe played 12 a few times, but defending in the front line – I had never done that before. It was a massive change not being at first receiver, being made to run hard lines and stuff.

“You’ve kind of got to be always on it at 13. Especially in defence. It is quite difficult to defend that. The more people that said it was hard to defend there, the better I wanted to be at defending there and be like; no, it’s easy.

“I’m really enjoying playing 13. When I want something, I’ll not stop working for it. It is definitely something I want to work towards.”

That competitive nature and desire to be the best is attributed to having three brothers. It is also what has driven Hyett to become more than comfortable lining up at outside centre in a short space of time.

So much so that in her first senior season, Sean Lynn included the then-teen in his matchday squads on a regular basis and was part of the team that beat Bristol Bears at Sandy Park to claim back-to-back PWR titles.

It is Gloucester Hartpury that Hyett will always credit for turning her into the player she is now. After arriving at English champions as a “skinny” 18-year-old, she has been transformed into a hard-running, hard-hitting centre by the team’s strength and conditioning staff.

Gloucestershire will always be the place she learned the ropes to play the position she now loves.

“You’ve got to be super loud,” Hyett said. “Because you’ve got to be an energiser. You have to energise your inside to come with you if you want to make a good read and go super high in defence.

“Physicality – that comes into tackle tech. I’ve done a lot of work on that over the past two years. You’ve kind of got to be a little tapped in your head. It is constant hard work and working to get the reward.

“I can’t believe it sometimes when I go back to 10 and I train at 10. I’m like, this is so boring. You don’t take anyone on, and you don’t get to tackle anyone.

“When I’m playing 10 for Hartpury [in] BUCS, I hate it because I’m in the backfield and I want to be involved.”

This weekend Hyett has been named to start England U21s uncapped game against Spain. Las Leonas have welcomed back some star power to their squad after a 39-0 victory against Belgium to start the Women’s Rugby Europe Championship.

Claudia Pena, Anael Fernandez and Martina Serrano have all been added to Regis Sonnes’ squad after they were unavailable for the tournament opener last week.

England’s preparation for the clash has included a 59-21 loss to Canada U21 Women at Bisham Abbey in a behind-closed-doors training game. After this week’s game with Spain, England will play Six Nations Women’s U21 Series matches against Scotland, Ireland and France between April and May.

Hyett has been playing with Loughborough Lightning’s Amelia Williams and Harlequins’ Ella Cromack since England U18s. The trio have grown up with one another and are all more than aware that their time playing age grade rugby together is at a premium.

They have all graduated from being wide-eyed youngsters to senior players in the team.

“We’ve grown up together, pretty much,” Hyett said. “Having all those younger girls come in, we’ve been in their shoes and it is nice being the ones being looked up to.

“Me and Amelia Williams, when we were in our first year of 20s we were the babies of the group. In your first year you’re the fun ones and the older ones rein us back in. Now we’re the older ones reining the younger ones in.”

When it comes to objectives for this campaign with England U21s, Hyett’s immediately springs out.

“I put 20s over anything else, I really want to nail down that 13 shirt this year.”

There are a couple of other things that Hyett wants too. This season the 20-year-old perhaps has not enjoyed the game time she wanted at the top level. That is one of the reasons she traded a West Country winter for Singapore and Perth several months ago.

Match minutes and thriving in an England U21 backline is very much at the top of the agenda, so that when she does get back to Bristol the team’s head coach, Scott Lawson, may have little choice other than to include her in his matchday teams.

“I just really want to enjoy my rugby again,” Hyett said. “I’m starting to get that feeling again. I love going to training. I love going on the pitch. That just comes from being super positive.

“I’d also say my physicality. I want to show that on both sides of the ball now. In attack I want to be dominant. Not just in defence. In attack I want to be dominant.”