How beating Australia helped launch the career of a world rugby star

3 weeks ago 10

When Ilona Maher posed for the September 2024 cover of Sports Illustrated magazine, she held an Olympic medal taken from the hands of the Australian team.

On Sunday, Australia will attempt to stop Maher and the US from depriving them of another medal at a major tournament. But if they lose again, Australia are set to leave the Women’s Rugby World Cup with nothing.

Australia will play Ilona Maher’s US side after losing to them at the 2024 Olympics.

Last year, Australia was 15 seconds from a podium finish at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. The bronze medal they were on track to win would have been a mere consolation prize for a team that could have won gold, forced upon them by a Canadian upset in the semi-final.

Inside those 15 seconds, USA’s Alex Sedrick scored and converted her own try to steal the bronze and hand the medal to Maher, whose online profile has surged from the social media content she made during the Olympics.

Now, the first line of her Instagram profile, followed by some 5.2 million, boasts that the 29-year-old is an “OLYMPIC MEDALLIST”. Across TikTok, X and Instagram, Maher has a combined 9 million followers.

It was the same medal that Maher held for her Sports Illustrated cover shoot – the first time a female rugby player was given the right.

Despite taking the Olympic medal home (and then to a beach on Fire Island for the photoshoot), it was Australia who won in the last match between the teams at the Pacific Four Series earlier this year. Of the total nine matches played between the two since 1997, Australia have won three and the US have won six.

Australia and the US are in pool A with Samoa and tournament favourites England. Australia defeated Samoa 73-0 and the US are expected to achieve a similar result, while England have beaten the US, and it would be a massive upset if the Wallaroos were to achieve a result against the Red Roses. With those outcomes expected, the winner on Sunday morning will likely progress to the quarter-finals.

For some of the Wallaroos, like 17-year-old Waiaria Ellis, the chance just to meet Maher is a privilege in itself.

“She’s so amazing, she’s done so much for our sport, women in sport, and just like women in general. So seeing her in real life playing will be pretty crazy,” said Ellis, who is hoping to make her World Cup debut in the competition.

Maher’s participation in the tournament draws in sponsorship deals, bigger crowds and online attention in ways the women’s game has never seen. So much so that when she signed for the Bristol Bears last year, the club had to move their season opener to a larger stadium to accommodate her fans.

Last month when she won the ESPY for best breakthrough athlete Maher used her acceptance speech to urge viewers to tune into the World Cup.

“PSA: There’s a Women’s Rugby World Cup this year, probably a lot of you didn’t know,” she began. “The biggest event in women’s rugby starting in about a month. Watch it, tune in. You’re not going to understand it the first time you watch it, you’re not going to understand it the second time either but just keep watching.”