USA rugby star Ilona Maher is about to make her first begin for the Bristol Bears on Sunday on the Exeter Chiefs in Premiership Girls’s Rugby.
The 28-year-old, who helped lead the USA to a bronze medal in rugby sevens on the Paris Olympics, will begin on the wing vs Exeter on Sunday having made her debut as a substitute an hour into Bristol’s 40-17 loss to defending champions Gloucester-Hartpury final week.
The arrival of Maher, essentially the most adopted rugby participant on social media, has boosted ticket gross sales, along with her debut drawing 9,240 followers to Ashton Gate – a document league attendance.
Exeter did not launch figures however mentioned Sunday’s recreation at Sandy Park will function “our biggest home crowd this season.”
Maher has greater than eight million followers mixed on Instagram and TikTok. She additionally was a runner-up on Dancing With The Stars – the American equal of Strictly Come Dancing.
The Vermont-native is returning to the 15-a-side recreation in hopes of boosting her probabilities of making the USA squad for the 2025 Girls’s Rugby World Cup in England.
Final Sunday’s recreation was her first 15s look since 2021.
The USA’s opening World Cup recreation is in opposition to match favourites England in Sunderland on August 22.
Maher claimed bronze with the USA ladies’s rugby sevens staff at this summer season’s Olympics in Paris
Maher’s three-month Bristol contract started in a repeat of final season’s Premiership remaining, and she or he emerged after 60 minutes along with her staff 18 factors adrift following a Gloucester scoring burst of three tries in eight minutes that secured a bonus-point.
Maher had already made a big impression, underpinning a substantial improve in duplicate shirt gross sales, whereas Bristol’s Instagram following has risen from 21,000 to 67,000 since her signing was introduced.
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