Amy Hunt visits England training camp ahead of Nations Championship match with Australia

Amy Hunt visited England's training base on Wednesday, watching a session and joining the squad for lunch ahead of Sunday's Nations Championship match against Australia.

The 24-year-old, who is based in Italy for her training, won four gold medals at last summer's European Championships in Birmingham and was gifted an England shirt as part of her day with the team. She is the latest in a string of sporting celebrities to give Steve Borthwick's squad insight into their careers.

"She seemed buzzing to be here and we love spending time with people who have achieved something in another sport," back row Ben Earl told BBC Sport. "Fraser Dingwall told me she has a degree from Cambridge and I always think it is amazing that people can study and achieve something in sport at the highest level." He spoke after Hunt's visit to the training base.

"We always get great energy when you get in winners and people who are trying to inspire others by what they do, which is what our lads want to do," said defence coach Richard Wigglesworth. "She'll create some good connections."

Emma Raducanu, who won the 2021 US Open, visited before the team's win over New Zealand last autumn. England football manager Thomas Tuchel and Olympic champion skeleton racer Matt Weston dropped into Pennyhill Park during this year's Six Nations campaign. Captain Maro Itoje has met a range of sporting figures invited into England's training camp.

Leeds Rhinos assistants Chev Walker, who played for Bath after briefly crossing codes in 2006, and Scott Grix met with Borthwick and his staff on Wednesday, along with players and coaches from the UK Armed Forces team. The UK Armed Forces play Belgium in a Remembrance Day fixture on 11 November at Gloucester's Kingsholm ground. Borthwick and assistant Joe El-Abd will put on a training session for them at Sandhurst on Thursday.

England's meeting with the Wallabies is the first of four games on successive weekends in November, with fixtures against Japan, New Zealand and an as-yet-undecided play-off opponent to follow. Sunday's match against Australia is the opening fixture in that November sequence.