BRISTOL, England — Ilona Maher admitted she was crammed with nerves forward of her Bristol Bears debut however believes she has taken a step ahead in adjusting to the 15s format of rugby as she performed 20 minutes within the Bears’ 40-17 defeat to Gloucester-Hartpury in entrance of a document crowd at Ashton Gate on Sunday.
Maher, who received Olympic bronze within the ladies’s sevens with the U.S., is focusing on a spot within the USA Eagles squad for the 2025 Rugby World Cup. To assist that objective as she swaps the short-form sevens format of the game for 15s, Maher has signed a three-month take care of Bristol the place she goals to impress forward of the World Cup in England later this yr.
If Bristol fall in need of making the playoffs in Premiership Ladies’s Rugby (PWR), then she has solely acquired six matches to impress. The primary of these got here on Sunday as she acquired her first expertise of PWR as a Sixtieth-minute substitute for Reneeqa Bonner. However her time on the ball was restricted, as Bristol struggled to maintain tempo with the back-to-back PWR winners.
“I used to be undoubtedly very nervous,” Maher stated. “I believe the coach [Dave Ward] was like, ‘okay, you are going to go on after 60 minutes.’ I used to be like, ‘okay, we certain?’ I simply needed to do my teammates proud and present that I deserved to be on the market.
“However as soon as I did get on the sphere, I simply felt like, that is rugby. It is one thing I have been doing for the previous 10 years now. It is one thing that is in my blood. So I felt actually assured once I acquired there, but additionally to my teammates who’re consistently speaking to me, like Jazz Joyce consistently telling me what she wants. It makes me really feel I can play to the perfect of my skill. Now, as I get extra comfy, I believe I will be in additional moments and be ready to place myself into extra areas.”
Maher’s final rugby motion was to assist the U.S. safe their first ever medal in rugby on the Olympics again in August. Throughout Paris 2024 she supplied behind-the-scenes entry within the Olympic village and grew her social media following, which stands at round 8.1 million throughout her varied platforms, establishing herself as by far the most-followed rugby union participant on the earth.
Because the finish of the Olympics, Maher’s life has been a whirlwind. She introduced a number of new model partnerships whereas her merchandise shows her mantra “magnificence, beast, brains.” She was the quilt star for the Sports activities Illustrated Swimsuit version in October and completed second on “Dancing with the Stars” on the finish of November.
Maher was welcomed to Bristol at the beginning of December, introduced to the group on the Bristol Bears males’s workforce’s match towards Leinster, greeting them with a royal wave.
“She’s given everybody a large raise,” Holly Aitchison, the Bristol and England fly-half stated on the time. “Anybody with that type of profile goes to place eyes on the sport, which may solely be a great factor for us.”
Maher then returned to the U.S. to fulfil varied industrial and TV duties and arrived again at her momentary house at the beginning of 2025. Her star energy meant Bristol Bears acquired unprecedented demand for tickets forward of Sunday’s match. They normally play at Shaftesbury Park — a floor with a capability of two,000 of which 250 is seated — however they moved it to Ashton Gate, the 27,000 robust stadium, in anticipation of Maher’s debut.
Maher final performed the XV-a-side format of the game in 2021, however the star energy was evident at Ashton Gate: digicam crews following her each motion, supporters proudly displaying her title on the again of her shirts, and an attendance of 9,240 all desirous to catch a glimpse of a rugby celebrity.
“Sevens is a battle, I really feel like 15s is usually like a warfare,” Maher stated afterwards. “There are such a lot of moments. It was powerful on the market. For me, I used to be simply attempting to look at and perceive, considering, what do I must do once I get in? And I believe every sport I am simply gonna be taught an increasing number of. And also you do be taught loads by dropping, but it surely additionally places a hearth beneath you for the subsequent sport.”
Pre-kick-off, and even in the course of the early phases of the sport, the cameras have been skilled simply as a lot on Maher because the on-field motion. Although she began on the bench, there was the inevitable subplot of the group, and sport, ready for her introduction.
Her positional versatility meant she may have featured probably within the back-row, within the midfield and out huge on the wing. In the long run, Bristol and Maher opted for the latter possibility, as she began her brief spell on the Bears on the precise wing. However in her 20-minute cameo, she was much more busy in defence than with ball in hand, as Gloucester-Hartpury ended up comfy victors.
“[My] instincts are the identical, but it surely’s extra just like the construction that you just actually have to grasp because the transferring components are simply so totally different,” Maher stated.
“In Sevens there are loads of 1v1s. I get previous this individual, I am fairly house free. In fifteens there’s one individual working right here, you are working behind, you may have three individuals in entrance of you, you are considering, is that the best choice or ought to we exit the again? So there’s a lot, so many extra transferring components that I’ve to nonetheless type of perceive and be taught.”
Maher signed autographs and took images with the followers contained in the stadium for over an hour after full-time. It was a document attendance for a Bristol Bears’ ladies’s house match, and Maher hopes her fame and fan base will hope develop the sport.
“It is actually vital for me to attach with them — they are not simply the subsequent technology of rugby gamers however the subsequent technology of followers. What’s cool was that there have been loads of ladies on the market. In males’s sports activities, you may have loads of male followers — particularly in rugby — it is a boy’s membership. You could have loads of previous males going to their workforce’s sport. Can we now get extra ladies shopping for our jerseys and coming to our video games?
“Ladies have energy, ladies have affect and so they’re a great fanbase to have.”
