A viral sensation, a financial necessity - why Maher became rugby's biggest star

Ilona Maher is not the champion rugby subordinate successful the world.

She is big, beardown and fast, with deceptively bully hands. But she is not, by her ain admission, the best.

"I'm astonishing astatine rugby, but realistically I'm possibly not the champion astatine it, which is fine," she told Rugby Union Weekly.

"There are truthful galore large athletes similar Portia Woodman [New Zealand's two-time Olympic golden winner] and Maddi Levi [Australia's satellite sevens subordinate of the year].

"But I person thing other I tin bring, which is personality."

That "something else" is thing else.

Because Maher is simply a societal media Jonah Lomu. Her numbers accelerate each upwards, with 8 cardinal followers and counting clinging to her shirttails.

She is rugby's large unicorn.

While the sport's suits pass gravely astir demographic illness and the request to link with a younger audience, a 28-year-old sevens subordinate from a federation wherever rugby is hardly a blip connected the radar has seemingly cracked it.

She is the biggest rugby subordinate ever, of either gender, online, acknowledgment to funny, sassy posts advocating for femininity successful each forms, assemblage positivity and Olympic colony flirting.

She has been connected the screen of Sports Illustrated and profiled by Forbes.

In the past fewer months, she has been taking portion successful Dancing with the Stars.

Casting the US mentation of Strictly Come Dancing isn't the bargain-bin, back-end-of-the alphabet rummage of immoderate different countries either.

On that broadside of the Atlantic, the A-list deed the floor. In erstwhile series, boxing legends Evander Holyfield and Floyd Mayweather person danced (not together), NFL hallway of famer Jerry Rice did a cha-cha-cha and World Cup victor Hope Solo was paired up and voted off.

This twelvemonth was Maher's turn.

And adjacent year, it is England's turn.

In January Maher volition commencement a three-month declaration with Bristol Bears successful Premiership Women's Rugby.

If that goes well, she volition beryllium backmost successful August for the Rugby World Cup successful which the United States instrumentality connected England successful a blockbuster tourney opener.

Before each that though, her archetypal task has been to crook followers into friends, gathering her caller team-mates for the archetypal time.

England prop Hannah Botterman has already been giving her lifts astir Bristol and Maher name-checks Wales helping Jasmine Joyce-Butchers - an aged sevens adversary - and England brace Holly Aitchison and Abbie Ward arsenic different stars she is looking guardant to playing alongside.

"Here is this miss coming in, playing sevens, from a creation show, joining their squad and they person been truthful bully and welcoming," Maher added.

"To beryllium with immoderate of the champion players successful the world, who play specified a crisp crippled that I would emotion to play, I conscionable cognize I americium going to larn truthful overmuch from them. I anticipation I americium going to get up to that level."

On the pitch, it volition beryllium a learning curve for Maher. She past played 15-a-side rugby successful 2021, having concentrated connected sevens which, with Olympic status, is amended funded successful the United States.

But immoderate of her team-mates volition beryllium learning from her too.

Maher, who has a maestro grade successful business, realised aboriginal connected successful her rugby vocation that the bottommost enactment of her slope relationship was going to beryllium intimately linked to her societal media follower count.

"I person had to bash it successful a antithetic way," she said.

"Rugby is my thing, but I person had to make this full different happening astir me.

"Being connected the transportation is amazing, but arsenic a pistillate athlete, arsenic a pistillate rugby player, I person to bash 10 times arsenic overmuch disconnected the field.

"I can't conscionable play the athletics I love. I'm not going to marque millions playing rugby, I'm not adjacent going to marque six figures playing rugby - that's the bittersweet truth.

"I'm not going to beryllium similar a men's subordinate - I can't enactment each my absorption here. I person to enactment it into everything other arsenic good and someway that's translated into being the biggest prima successful rugby due to the fact that of my personality."

Rugby has traditionally shied distant from specified individualism, valuing the squad supra memes.

But Maher says it can't spend not to get progressive successful the self-promotional societal media hustle.

"I deliberation rugby is, successful galore ways, stuck successful the aged ways - connected the tract you person conscionable got to enactment and that's wherever it stops," she added.

"But we person to turn arsenic the satellite changes and arsenic nine changes. We privation to get much players into the crippled - wherever are those players? They're connected TikTok. They're scrolling the apps, they're watching my small videos and going 'oh, look astatine this miss play rugby'."

When this miss really does play rugby for Bristol is not yet decided.

She volition beryllium astatine Bristol's lucifer against Exeter this weekend.

The clash with past season's champions Gloucester-Hartpury connected 5 January has been shifted from 200-seater Shaftesbury Park to 27,000-capacity Ashton Gate owed to "unprecedented demand", adjacent though Maher is speedy to accent she is improbable to beryllium acceptable to marque her debut then.

Maher the subordinate mightiness not marque an appearance, but Ilona the property will. And, with basal selfie snaps a possibility, that is possibly three-quarters of the draw.

"If I americium what gets them successful the door, awesome, but I anticipation that the rugby being played is what makes them stay," she said,

"Come for the Tik Tok girl, but enactment for rugby which volition beryllium connected par with the best."

Bristol, Rugby World Cup organisers and the full of rugby volition beryllium watching, learning and hoping that invitation is answered.