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England in a good place heading to Italy, says Hyett

millie hyett
For rising star Millie Hyett, it's all about the momentum.

Having tasted recent success with Gloucester-Hartpury, she wants to keep the ball rolling into the Women's Summer Series with England U20.

Running from July 4-14 in Parma, Italy, the inaugural development competition will feature all Six Nations teams and will include three competitive match days designed to offer a new opportunity for international rugby experience.

England will be taking on Ireland, Wales and France during the competition and centre Hyett, 19, is set to have a big part to play.

Twenty-eight of the 30 England players who have travelled are linked to PWR clubs and this season Hyett gained great exposure to the Gloucester-Hartpury first team as they retained their top flight title.

Hyett was on the bench for their final triumph over Bristol Bears in Exeter on June 22 - and now she is looking forward to representing her country again and keeping the good times going.

“Being part of things with Gloucester-Hartpury this season has been brilliant,” Hyett explained.

“There are so many experienced players around me at the club to learn from such as Red Roses Mo Hunt, Tatyana Heard, Zoe Aldcroft and others.

“They are all so approachable and that has really helped me with my confidence in that environment, they are always there to help out and pass on tips.

“For me as someone who is still learning the position of centre, Tats [Heard] has been such a great person to be around. Just watching how she goes about things and how she handles different situations in defence and attack has given me plenty of ‘work ons’ and I think over the season I have improved a number of areas within my game.

“To get some first team experience as the team went on to win the PWR was special for me and I now feel in a good place as a rugby player - I feel I can really kick on from here now.”

Hyett, who was originally a stand-off but has been playing both 12 and 13 this term, has many admirers and that includes within the Red Roses set up because, then just 18, she was called up to train with the national squad for a spell before the Guinness Women's Six Nations earlier this year.

“It was kind of scary going into camp for the first time with them, suddenly there were all these players I’d seen on TV,” she laughed.

“I was nervous at first, but it was really good to be there and I learnt such a lot. It was a big step up from anything that I’d been a part of before, but I tried to take the confidence I had gained from Gloucester-Hartpury in to camp and I just did my best.

“Like all young players, to play for England is the goal and this gave me a little insight into what that environment is like.”

Hyett, who now studies at Hartpury University after a stint at Hartpury College, first took up the sport at Evesham Rugby Club in Worcestershire - “I was around three or four and got involved there because my dad coached and my brothers played”.

After Mini rugby, playing with and against the boys, she stopped for a few years before starting to play again aged 14 with Worcester Girls.

Since then she has moved quickly through the rugby ranks at college and university to Gloucester-Hartpury and representative level and has a bright future ahead of her.

So far in 2024 under head coach LJ Lewis, England’s under-20s have defeated the British Army 99-5, lost 74-0 to France and beaten Wales 45-5.

Hyett said: “Going into this event, I want to win every game and as a playing group I think we are in a really good place heading to Italy.

“The vibes in camp are really good and everyone is smiling, each training camp we have got better.

“We want to grow from game to game and we want to end on a high note versus France. We want that to be a closer game than the last one was against them and we want to show a true reflection of ourselves.

“I think we are building all of the time and this squad is pretty special, there are a lot of good players here and I love being part of the backline that we have because we have players who can create opportunities.”