After her stint on Dancing with the Stars Ilona Maher announced that they would be moving to England and signing for Bristol Bears women’s.
This is an important move for Maher as she wants to be picked to play for USA in the Rugby Women’s World Cup which will be held in England Next year.
Back in 2020 Ilona Maher was chosen to represent her country in the Tokyo Olympics playing rugby 7, with her scoring three tries for her team and them finishing sixth in the tournament.
Two years after the Olympics she was chosen to play in the women’s Rugby 7s World Cup where she helped her team into the semi-finals.
This years Paris Olympics Maher represented her country again where she scored tries in all their group stage matches, after being eliminated by gold medallists New Zealand in the semifinals, the United States narrowly defeated Australia in the bronze medal match.
This move to Bristol Bears is a big decision for Maher as she has only ever played 7s Rugby at a professional level, and now she is in the Premiership and it’s 15 players instead of seven on the pitch.
Mahers first game that she should be eligible is Bristol Bears vs Gloucester- Hartpury Women on the 5th January but it’s still not 100% that she will be playing.
Due to the high volume of people that wanted to see the West Country Derby, the venue has been changed from Shaftesbury to Ashton Gate. The attendance for this match has already surpassed the previous record attendance for a Bears Women fixture at Aston Gate- 4,101 against Harlequins in may of 2022.
Even though it’s not for definite that she that she will be playing on the fifth, her attendance alone at the game has made tickets sales to extreme numbers as she is also a well know TikToker alongside being a professional rugby player.
