Latest news with #USEagles
The Guardian
28-03-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Ilona Maher makes USA rugby squad to face Japan before Pacific Four challenge
The rugby sevens star, social media influencer and reality TV competitor Ilona Maher is included in the US Eagles squad for four 15-a-side games this spring, as her quest for a place at the World Cup later this year moves on from a successful stint with Bristol Bears in England. Listed as a center, having played wing for Bristol, Maher is set to 'return to the USA Rugby 15s pitch for the first time since 2021, where she debuted with two caps during the Pacific Four Series', USA Rugby said in announcing its squad for games against Japan and, in this year's Pacific Four, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Sione Fukofuka, the Eagles head coach, said: 'We have been tracking our players either in their team environments in Premiership Women's Rugby [PWR, in England] or here in the US preparing with their Women's Elite Rugby (WER) teams … We have real competition for positions and a strong core playing group with some x-factor.' Maher's x-factor is well known. Now 28, the native Vermonter shone at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut then became a mainstay of the US women's sevens team that won spectacular bronze at the Olympic Games in Paris last year. As one of the most-followed athletes in all world sports, post-Paris successes included a Sports Illustrated photoshoot, an endorsement (of Kamala Harris) in the US election, and a second-placed finish on Dancing with the Stars, ABC's hit reality show. Juggling such commitments with an ambition to play in the 15-a-side World Cup in England in August, Maher signed a short-term deal with Bristol that ended with defeat by Gloucester-Hartpury in the PWR semi-final. Such has been Maher's impact, the Daily Telegraph last week dubbed her 'Rugby's biggest star since Jonah Lomu', the giant New Zealand wing who vied with Nelson Mandela to be the face of the 1995 World Cup in South Africa and died in 2015. 'At times I feel like I'm being wrung dry, because rugby is trying to get as much out of me as possible,' Maher told the Telegraph, while accepting 'personalised boots encrusted with rhinestones' at Adidas headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany. 'I love it, but … sometimes I get tired. I'm like, 'Man, we got to have more faces of rugby.' '… People have been calling me the 'superstar of rugby'. I love that, I think that's awesome, but we need to have more superstars coming up because we want people to come to the games. To be the face of a sport that is a historically male sport is also really cool, and helping it to grow in the women's sphere.' Back on US soil, Maher has launched a podcast, presented with her sisters Olivia and Adrianna and called House of Maher. This week's episode featured discussions of how Ilona lost her virginity, her thoughts on body positivity and the challenges of pursuing a World Cup place while meeting the demands of celebrity. 'It's a weird battle I have to deal with,' Maher said. 'It's either play rugby or do things outside that would make me so much more money … if I could I would just play rugby … you have to do it for passion. It is hard. I'm putting my body on the line for something that is giving me a lot, but at times I feel like I'm giving it much more. I'm going out there everyday with the possibility of getting an injury … and I'm like, 'Gosh why am I doing this to myself?'' Most women's players play semi-professionally at best, in the US in WER, which played its first games last weekend. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion 'A lot of my teammates they're putting their whole bodies on the line for very little reward,' Maher said. 'A lot of them aren't getting paid, if they're getting paid it's very little, a lot of them are working full time jobs … so we're in rugby doing this for passion but at what time can it be as a career?' Maher and the rest of a US squad led for a seventh season by the back-rower Kate Zackary will face Japan in Los Angeles on 26 April and Canada in Kansas City on 2 May. After that, the Wallaroos await in Canberra on 16 May and the mighty Black Ferns in Auckland seven days later. Tickets for the games on US soil go on sale on Friday. Another home game follows later in the summer, against Fiji in Washington DC on 19 July, as part of a double-header with the US men versus England. Fukofuka said the Eagles would look to 'compete for results and learn to take opportunities in key moments. This will provide a strong platform for the Rugby World Cup by allowing us to implement our game model, develop combinations and create an environment where we have the ability to change the game, on and off the field.'
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Women's Elite Rugby: new league aims to boost US game and – finally
Kittery Wagner Ruiz went to two World Cups with the US Eagles and on Saturday will help make history as head coach of the Boston Banshees against the New York Exiles in Women's Elite Rugby, a six-team semi-professional league kicking-off its first season. But even illustrious careers have to start somewhere, and Wagner Ruiz's story is typical of the American game in all its unruly glory. Related: US rugby hopes Ilona Maher will be part of England and Fiji DC doubleheader 'In high school, I played basketball, softball and soccer, and unfortunately, or fortunately, I was a little too aggressive for some of those,' Wagner Ruiz said, before heading out for training. 'I had yellow cards, fallings out, all that kind of stuff. But I had a friend that said, 'There's this sport that you can actually hit people and you're not gonna get in trouble for it.' And clearly, I was an angry teenager, and needed that. And so I found rugby.' Her first club was a men's club: the Northern Colorado Flamingoes, a pink-clad band from Fort Collins, near the Wyoming line. 'I played with them for a little bit, just to run around and get an idea of what the heck was going on. And then I got to college and played … I never looked back. I played all over the country and all over the world.' Wagner Ruiz played hooker, winning 28 USA caps out of Beantown RFC in Boston, the club that now forms the backbone of the Banshees, and for Glendale in Colorado – aka RugbyTown USA – the team that now undergirds the Denver Onyx. She taught math too. 'I retired in 2014 and immediately started coaching the Gray Wolves – they were the Glendale Raptors then. I didn't leave teaching until 2017 when I started moving around the country with my late wife, who was a Marine.' Wagner Ruiz has spoken of Kandis Ruiz elsewhere, of her loss, and of support from the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, or TAPS, named for the bugle call played over military graves. 'There are people that I've met through my time with TAPS that I consider some of my closest friends,' she has said. 'We are bound by our losses, but can lean on each other to get through our hardest moments and celebrate our joyous moments as well.' Rugby players also treat each other as family. Ruiz played too, for clubs including Glendale and for the US Under-20s. Wagner Ruiz has coached Life University and Atlanta Harlequins; with Atavus, in Seattle; and at Brown, the Ivy League college in Providence, Rhode Island. Her 'full-time day job' is there, as an assistant, 'then I get to coach the Banshees at night.' That seems apt, given WER marketing. The Banshees are 'supernatural, otherworldly, bringing wails of fury … born of Celtic mythology and the New England history of rebellious women … harbingers of doom to our opponents.' But if training nights in Weymouth might turn a little harum-scarum, Wagner Ruiz hopes to stir up home game days too, first in Quincy, home to the New England Free Jacks of MLR, the men's pro league. Wagner Ruiz describes the daily challenge of switching between sevens, Brown's spring game, and WER's 15-a-side. But no one in women's rugby ever had it easy, and the new league simply wants to help its players have it better than before. In New York, Denver, the Bay Area, the Twin Cities and Chicago, all teams built on clubs from the amateur Women's Premier League, other coaches are working. The regular season will run for 10 games before playoffs in June. Wagner Ruiz is 'really excited. Not that right now there's a lot of money but … the stepping stone is now they get to just play. Players don't have to fundraise for their club, they don't have to pay the coaches, they don't have to find field space. The league has hired coaches and general managers. It should give the opportunity for athletes to hone their craft.' ••• Wagner Ruiz has coached at national level, U20s and talent ID, giving her insight into players who might boost the Eagles at World Cups after the one in England this summer. The state of the college game, she said, 'speaks highly of what's happening in high schools, because the level of talent and the level of athlete that is looking to play rugby in college has grown. Related: 'This is the time for women's sports': investor Deb Henretta backs US rugby 'There are athletes who've played since they were eight, nine years old. So they they already know the laws. They already know how to catch-pass. They already are comfortable in contact. Those are the three big things we want them to have, and obviously then being able to read space and all those other things.' At mention of the writer Malcolm Gladwell, who devoted a chapter of his latest book to why women's rugby is growing in elite colleges, like many in US rugby Wagner Ruiz gives a rueful shake of the head. Maybe the simple fact an esteemed New Yorker writer noticed speaks for how the game, like women's sports in general, has begun to surge. Happier thoughts relate to the explosive success of Ilona Maher, the Quinnipiac University and USA sevens standout turned social media genius and reality TV star doing for women's rugby what the Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark has done for WNBA. Maher has just finished a stint in England with Bristol. Back home, she is chasing a World Cup place. To have such a role model on every fan's phone is simple good news. 'Ilona's from Vermont, right? A New Englander through and through. I think something with this league is, we're a bit on the coattails of the US bronze medal [in Olympic sevens, in Paris last year], and then yes, Ilona's success and being a very public figure definitely has brought more publicity in general. Young athletes seeing her as a beautiful, big, strong woman – I think about my [six-year-old] daughter, right? I hope kids see Ilona and realize, 'I can do anything.' That's what's great about rugby: everybody can play. It doesn't matter who you are, what you look like, shape, size, etc. It's a place for you.' Wagner Ruiz's squad is built on Beantown but includes talent pulled from a process involving all six WER coaches. There are 'a few sevens Eagles, a few Olympians … five or six current [15s] Eagles, and then a handful that have been to national identification camps and have played along the pathways.' The center Emily Henrich, who had time in England with Leicester, is one established Eagle. The prop Lauren Ferridge, like Henrich out of Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, is among those chasing a cap. 'The majority of players have day jobs,' Wagner Ruiz said. 'There are a select few that have decided to move here for the five months that we're training and stock up money or work remotely. But for the most part, people are keeping some semblance of a nine to five … In three to five years, if that is a thing of the past, and we're training midday, and athletes can come to the facility, whatever that looks like, and can be there to train and then lift and then do a recovery session, that's kind of my vision.' ••• After two games in Quincy, the Banshees will play three home games in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. It's down to logistics. Wagner Ruiz speaks warmly of the relationship with the Free Jacks. They have won two MLR titles in a row, success recognized with the hoisting of championship banners at Logan Airport in Boston, alongside honors for the Celtics (NBA), Bruins (NHL), Red Sox (MLB), and New England Patriots (NFL). Rugby is gaining a presence. Related: Phaidra Knight, rugby great, set for pro MMA debut at 50: 'All roads lead to where I am' Asked what success for the Banshees and WER might look like, Wagner Ruiz said: 'I think success is putting on a good show. I want us to have a team that it plays good rugby, and the athletes to be good ambassadors for the sport.' To the average US sports fan, rugby has a somewhat 'traditional' appeal, a sport for non-conformists but very social too. Wagner Ruiz speaks as enthusiastically about a game in which 'you beat the crap out of each other, and then you hang out afterwards, and have a good meal together' as she does about elite performance. 'We all really want this league to succeed. And for that to happen, we need good rugby. We need good games. We need to be fun and exciting and fast-paced, very close scorelines, things that make people want to come watch. How many rugby games have we watched that were, like, all right? We know so-and-so is going to win, or it's going to be a blowout. Then it's boring rugby. 'We want to be something that's exciting, that really makes our fanbase want to come back year after year after year. And that, to me, is success.' WER will stream live and on-demand for free on DAZN
BBC News
18-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Scotland to take on All Blacks in Autumn Nations Series
Scotland have confirmed their four opponents in the 2025 Autumn Nations Series at Murrayfield, with New Zealand returning for the first time in three Scots will also host the USA, Argentina and Tonga in November, with the US Eagles first up on 1 it will be the turn of the All Blacks, who Scotland are still yet to beat in an international fixture. However, the last two games have provided closer competition, with New Zealand narrowly winning 31-23 in 2022 and 22-17 in Townsend's side will be looking for revenge against Argentina, after Los Pumas beat them 2-1 over the 2022 summer series in South hosts have also played the US recently, beating them 53-6 during the latest summer tour, while they beat Tonga comfortably during the group stage of the 2023 Rugby World Autumn Nations Series:Saturday 1 November: Scotland v USA (17:40 GMT)Saturday 8 November: Scotland v New Zealand (15:10)Sunday 16 November: Scotland v Argentina (15:10)Sunday 23 November: Scotland v Tonga, (13:40)
