Ilona Maher in competition for Bristol Bears debut as 8,000 supporters anticipated at Ashton Gate for Premiership ladies’s rugby | Rugby union information

Ilona Maher is ready to make her Bristol Bears debut on the bench on Sunday as 8,000 supporters are anticipated at Ashton Gate for his or her Premiership Girls’s Rugby conflict in opposition to Gloucester-Hartpury.

The American rugby sevens star has signed for Bristol on a historic three-month contract and has 3.3 million followers on TikTok and 4.6 million on Instagram.

The 28-year-old rose to fame in the course of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics when she posted movies on social media from the COVID-hit Olympic Village, and as soon as once more emerged as a serious determine on the Olympics of Paris in 2024 when america gained sevens bronze.

On Sunday, Maher will seem for the primary time in a Bristol shirt after being named twenty third among the many substitutes when PWR’s reigning champions Gloucester-Hartpury go to.

“With a crowd of virtually 8,000 anticipated at Ashton Gate on Sunday, it’s a vastly thrilling occasion and we hope to provide them one thing to cheer about,” Bristol head coach Dave Ward mentioned.

“We perceive the significance of the sport within the context of our season and the standard of the defending champions, however we method the match with confidence and relish the chance and the problem.”

World Rugby chief Alan Gilpin says he’s assured TikTok sensation Maher is precisely what the game wants as momentum builds forward of this summer season’s World Cup in England.

Gilpin mentioned: “We all know that these shiny younger ladies are coming into the sport with fascinating private tales, with actually highly effective personalities, seeing the sport as an amazing platform to construct their very own manufacturers, as Ilona has finished.

“It’s really an amazing instance for males’s soccer and I believe it’s what we’d like in rugby.

“We all know there’s a shift in fan enthusiasm for following particular person gamers in ladies’s soccer, and the platform we’re going to provide them on the Girls’s World Cup is actually the gateway to that. .

“So we’re actually enthusiastic about what Ilona and so many different good ladies will convey subsequent 12 months.”

Maher adopted his Olympic sevens bronze medal with an look on Workforce USA Strictly Come Dance equal, Dancing with the celebsthe place she was a finalist.

Gilpin added: “Ilona is exclusive in some ways as a result of she is a pioneer in ladies’s soccer, however there are a complete host of good ladies who’re going to play on this match subsequent 12 months.

“Ilona gave everybody permission to go away and be themselves.”

Bristol Bears face Gloucester-Hartpury at Ashton Gate on Sunday (12:45 p.m. KO):

Bristol Bear: 15⁠ ⁠Jasmine Joyce-Butchers, 14⁠ ⁠Reneeqa Bonner, 13⁠ ⁠Courtney Keight, 12⁠ ⁠Phoebe Murray, 11⁠ ⁠Millie David, 10⁠ ⁠Holly Aitchison (vc), 9⁠ ⁠Ffion Lewis; 1⁠ ⁠Hannah Botterman, 2⁠ ⁠Lark Atkin-Davies, 3⁠ ⁠Sarah Bern, 4⁠ ⁠Hollie Cunningham, 5⁠ ⁠Abbie Ward (c), 6⁠ ⁠Alisha Joyce-Butchers, 7⁠ ⁠Evie Gallagher, 8 years ⁠ ⁠Rownita Marston-Mulhearn.

Substitutes: 16⁠ ⁠Jess Sprague, 17⁠ ⁠Simi Pam, 18⁠ ⁠Holly Phillips, 19⁠ ⁠Delaney Burns, 20⁠ ⁠Gabriella Nigrelli, 21⁠ ⁠Tilly Ryall, 22⁠ ⁠Meg Varley, 23⁠ ⁠Ilona Maher.

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