‘Millie Whizz’ gives a glimpse of a glorious England future

It’s a dangerous game making predictions about the kind of careers that players will have on the day of their international debut. The brightest prospects can burn out just as easily as the unheralded players can go on to become 50- or 100-cap regulars. Which is a long way of saying that the following proclamation is not made lightly. By the end of Millie David’s long England career, the disappointment she will have felt about her Test debut being cut short after only 19 minutes will barely even register.

David knew there would be tears today. Running out for the biggest moment of her career on familiar territory at Ashton Gate, where she plays for Bristol Bears, she said that she would actively avoid trying to find her dad in the crowd during the anthems, knowing that the mere sight of him would set her off. At half-time, she did find him. David’s gumshield registered a high enough impact for her to be brought off the field and into the changing room for a head injury assessment, which she subsequently failed, cutting short her first Test.

As the rest of England’s players regrouped in the changing room, plotting how to build on their healthy 29-12 half-time lead having just added a stunning try by captain Meg Jones, David remained out on the touchline, before being guided over by the England media officer to the section of the crowd where her father was. Then the tears came.

Typically, given David’s strike rate at club level, she had already managed in that brief cameo to score a first Test try, latching on to the end of a delightful wide pass from Holly Aitchison before having too much speed for the covering Kayleigh Powell. Mobbed by her team-mates, one of the first players to greet David as she returned to her feet fittingly was Ellie Kildunne, the player she looked up to for years and now calls her team-mate.

“When Millie crossed the line, how ecstatic we were for her, I think that was really special,” Jones said, after another comprehensive win in which England scored 10 tries.

Given the opportunities that Jess Breach, David’s replacement, and opposite wing Claudia Moloney-MacDonald went on to enjoy throughout the match, finishing with a try apiece, it does not seem like a stretch to suggest that David could have added to her debut score.

After the England men’s side won their only Rugby World Cup back in 2003, there were a group of household names who ended up transcending the sport. Jonny Wilkinson, obviously, with his winning drop goal and sponsorships. Martin Johnson, too, the winning captain, who everyone was suddenly both afraid of and wanted to have a drink with in equal measure. Jason Robinson, England’s rapid try-scorer in that final, would have also qualified. And then the next wave of “superstars” to carry the game on never truly arrived. Manu Tuilagi sparkled but injuries robbed him of any consistency. Danny Cipriani, maybe, although his talent was never truly fulfilled in part due to a horrific injury.

It was not really until the arrival of Maro Itoje, now England’s captain and a standout British and Irish Lion, that the men’s game truly had that kind of crossover figure known outside of rugby grounds, with Joe Marler’s ascendancy to national treasure coming in retirement. And now here comes Henry Pollock, ready to pick up the mantle from Itoje as the Saracens lock enters his mid-30s.

England Women certainly have that kind of household name now with Kildunne; finishing as a runner-up in the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year behind Masters-winning Rory McIlroy yet ahead of the newly-crowned Formula One champions Lando Norris, posing on the cover of Women’s Health and with a book, Game Changer, released this month.

At the age of 26, Kildunne will be a fixture for a long time. The England captain Jones is one of the most likeable players in the sport, alongside her predecessor, Zoe Stratford. This England squad are breaking new ground off the field. But which player comes next? And what if, in spite of her brief debut, in a few years’ time that next superstar turns out to be David?

Last season, David scored 17 tries and was named Premiership Women’s Rugby breakthrough player of the season. Nine have followed this season so far. That earlier mention of Robinson was not by accident. One of David’s coaches at Bristol sent her clips of the great “Billy Whizz”, suggesting she could try to implement some of the elements of Robinson’s game into her own. Some nicknames come easily. “Millie Whizz” seems likely to stick.

As John Mitchell noted afterwards, she is far from the finished product, stressing that David has “the ability to add some skill-sets to her game”, while underlining that the standards are so high within this group that David will get “another opportunity at some point – I’m not sure whether it’ll be in this tournament, but certainly in the future.”

But the talent she clearly has already, that undeniable pace, is enough reason alone to make you speculate just how good she could become. “She’s got raw speed and can beat you one on one. If you get the ball to her early, she’ll smoke you,” Mitchell added.

This was not the start David would have imagined. It may, however, have been the beginning for a special England player.

Photograph by Dan Istitene/Getty Images