From a café in England, Bristol Bears recruit Ilona Maher cheered on the USA Women’s Sevens side during their Semi-Final triumph at SVNS Cape Town last weekend. Maher shared the moment in a candid video on social media, with the USA recording an upset win over Australia.
Maher is the most popular rugby player on social media, with the American’s relatable, funny and sincere content generating a following of 4.7 million on Instagram and more than 3 million on TikTok. The All Blacks, as a comparison, have 2.1 million fewer followers on IG than Maher.
Antoine Dupont is universally considered a generational rugby talent, but the Frenchman has less than one-quarter of Maher’s following on Instagram, and that’s the same for two-time Rugby World Cup-winning All Black Dan Carter who also has 1.1 million.
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After signing with the Bears in Premier Women’s Rugby earlier this month, Maher has documented her time in England with some TikTok videos. The Olympic bronze medalist is taking a break from sevens this season to prepare for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup.
@ilonamaher @USA Rugby ? original sound – Ilona Maher
While Maher won’t be part of the USA team on the HSBC SVNS Series during the 2024/25 campaign, the American is still a massive supporter. The social media sensation stopped to cheer on the sevens team during their clash with competition heavyweights Australia.
With Australia taking out the Dubai Sevens title a week earlier, and considering they’re the reigning Cape Town champions as well, the USA firmed as the underdogs before the match. The women in gold took a strong lead during the second term but the match was far from over.
Maddison Levi’s one and only try of that Semi-Final saw the Aussies take a 19-7 lead with about six minutes left to play, but tries to Nia Toliver and Alyssa Porter set up a grandstand finish, with the Americans searching for another score as they trailed by two points.
Toliver was the heroine for the USA with the 26-year-old completing a double in the 14th minute to send the team through to the Women’s Cup Final. It was a significant achievement for the team, who hadn’t made a decider on the SVNS Series since last season’s Hong Kong Sevens.
Maher was ‘trying to remain calm’ in the café, as a caption on the video read. But after the full-time whistle, Maher offered a heartfelt, gleaming smile to her 3.3 million followers on TikTok before gladly saying, “They’re through to the Final… Oh my gosh.”
The USA took on Olympic gold medalists New Zealand in the title decider and they ended up striking first through Toliver, whose purple patch carried into the Cup Final. Another score to Porter saw the Americans take charge with a 12-nil lead early in the contest.
But the Black Ferns Sevens are one of the world’s best teams for a reason, with Jorja Miller and Jazmin Felix-Hotham both scoring before the half-time break to give the New Zealanders a hard-earned 14-12 lead at the interval.
Kelsey Teneti and Dhys Faleafaga both crossed for a try each during the second term as New Zealand ran away with a 26-12 win. But with the USA naming a side that didn’t include Maher, Alex ‘Spiff’ Sedrick and other Olympians, it was still a good result for a young team.
As for Australia, they were stunned again in the battle for bronze with France recording a 17-14 win. The Aussies had lost the third-place playoff to the USA at the Olympics, so there was a sense of déjà vu as they fell to a fourth-place finish after going out in straight sets.
