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PWR

Ilona Maher makes low-key debut in Bristol Bears defeat

Ilona Maher of Bristol Bears makes her way onto the pitch as she comes on as a replacement during the Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby match between Bristol Bears and Gloucester-Hartpury at Ashton Gate on January 05, 2025 in Bristol, England. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Ilona Maher’s eagerly anticipated debut for Bristol Bears didn’t quite go to plan as the home side fell to a heavy 40-17 defeat against Gloucester-Hartpury at Ashton Gate.

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The American superstar and social media sensation entered the match for the final 20 minutes but went that entire time on the pitch without seeing the ball.

Her limited involvement reflected a challenging day for the Bears, who struggled against the reigning Premiership Women’s Rugby champions.

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Maher’s debut – her first appearance in 15s rugby since 2021 – started on the right wing before she was moved to the left flank.

Her most notable moment came when she failed in an attempt to dive on a loose ball, which directly led to Gloucester’s fifth try via Mia Venner. The incident spoke to a frustrating afternoon for both the player and her side, with Gloucester’s second-half dominance ensuring they remained in control throughout the match.

Bristol fell short despite tries from Millie David, Alisha Joyce-Butchers, and Sarah Bern. Gloucester-Hartpury were good value for their win, scoring six tries through Emma Sing, Natasha Hunt, Maud Muir, Rachel Lund, Venner, and Georgia Brock; with Sing adding five conversions to seal a convincing victory.

Maher’s debut had drawn significant attention, with a record-breaking crowd of 9,240  fans turning out to watch the 28-year-old Olympic sevens bronze medalist make her Bristol debut. Despite the disappointing result, Maher’s arrival has already made waves off the field, with the Bears reporting a surge in replica shirt sales and a remarkable increase in their social media following.

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Bristol head coach Dave Ward, speaking before the match, acknowledged the challenge of integrating Maher into the side mid-season but expressed optimism about her potential impact in the weeks to come.

Maher won an Olympic 7s bronze medal with the United States in Paris and then went on to become the runner-up on Dancing with the Stars, the American equivalent of Strictly Come Dancing.

PWR chair Genevieve Shore said: “We are excited to have Ilona in the PWR at Bristol Bears. We believe she will have an incredibly positive impact on the Bears, PWR and women’s rugby in general. Ilona is such an impressive person and, as we have seen, takes on every challenge presented to her in an incredible way.”

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t
takata 1 hour ago
Can Les Bleus avoid a Black-wash in New Zealand?

If you have ever been involved with a rugby team you will know that those 2-3 week rest periods do not matter. Yes the body recharges temporarily but the battery runs down again real quick with 25-30 games already embedded in it.

Bullshit!

In fact those very few weeks do absolutely matter when the alternative is no break at all from a long serie of very high intensity games (including the intense emotional drain for all those involved), with no preparation at all for the next test match after a big travel at the other end of the world. And It’s not like they would have to start a brand new season as they will only add a couple of games to their total - hence the chance of those rested players being injured is seriously reduced vs the alternative.


The period of May-June is the crux of their entire season for those playing the play off in Top 14 and the Champions Cup. As you probably know, it’s very difficult to come down from there (or your “credentials” as a rugby analyst were certainly usurped). It’s also in contradiction with your main point of comparison between the English tour of 2014 and the French one of 2025 (and all those before since a couple of decade).


And this is the truly ridiculous part. Teams only get better by developing connections and understandings in their sub-units and that means familiarity. Playing in the company of the same bloke next to you.

Part of the job for an “analyst” is to analyse, right? Not to look at stuff like if there was only one way of proceeding and to discard anything else with a lot of arrogance. You probably weren’t very succesfull at this job, I guess.


Then you should have certainly already analysed that, from the start of his tenure, Galthié always used both “Test” windows to test as many players and as many things as he likes; there is no pressure put on him to win during those “friendlies”. The November serie is a test bed for the future 6 Nations team and the summer serie was always used for keeping fringe players involved with the main group (old and new ones). Lots of good things for the main team came from this way of operating. Maybe he’ll finally be rewarded one day at the WC, or his successor in the future. I don’t mind waiting.


He already gave us many good games to watch and there is a lot of talent comming thru the system.

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