The Rise of Women’s Rugby

by Pippa Jones ‘28 on October 2, 2025

Friar Sports

With women’s rugby rising to fame amongst the sports community, we can largely give credit to two-time Olympic champion Ilona Maher. Known for playing the tough sport with a shade of bright red lipstick on the pitch, Maher promotes body positivity and women in sports with her brand Beast Beauty Brains. Following her win in the 2024 Summer Olympics in France, she began to gain traction as an athlete and an internet personality. After her debut on the popular show Dancing with the Stars, Maher has gained lots of followers on social media and helped to promote the rugby community to a wider audience. Since the show, she has starred in several advertisements, her most recent partnership with Maybelline’s Only in Matte Ink lipstick. She also starred in Sports Illustrated, where she premiered her modeling career. Maher excelled in her rugby career at Quinnipiac University, where she won three NIRA championships. She now plays for the U.S. Sevens team and recently signed with the Bristol Bears club team.

Maher’s teammate, Sarah Bern, is another internet personality who has promoted the women’s rugby community with her platform. Both playing for the Bristol Bears, Bern and Maher have advertised the positive atmosphere of the community. Bern is a 28-year-old front row prop for England’s women’s rugby team, the Red Roses. Bern started her career as a back row forward with England’s U20 team. She has a record of 30 tries and 150 career points. Bern has a strong internet presence that accompanies Maher’s empowering brand.

Both Bern and Maher starred in this year’s 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup. This year, the Women’s Rugby World Cup had a notable following with 42,473 viewers just on the opening game, which featured the U.S. vs. England. The World Cup will wrap up with the final and bronze matches in London on Sept. 27. The final game will feature a showdown of Pool A leader, England, with 15 points, against Pool B leader, Canada, also with 15 points. It is hard to tell who the winner of the final match will be, considering both teams lead their individual pools with identical point totals. England’s Red Roses have been crowned the favorites of the match with their record of 32 successive matches, according to BBC Sport. Team USA stands at No. 3 in Pool A with a record of one win, one draw, and one loss. Pool C leader, New Zealand, with 15 points, and Pool D leader France, with 14 points, will play each other for bronze. I would put New Zealand as the favorite with 382 points scored this season vs. France’s 195. Although this proves to be a large gap, New Zealand only has seven wins against France’s five, making this a closer matchup than expected.

Contrary to the leaderboard, the top scorer for the World Cup is New Zealand’s Braxton Sorensen-McGee with 11 tries and 69 points. At only 18 years old, Braxton was newly named to the Black Ferns as of this July. Braxton was named player of the match in New Zealand’s match against Japan. Following the World Cup, the next main events for women’s rugby will be HSBC SVNS and the Pacific Four series, both in 2026.

If interested in getting involved with rugby locally, join PC’s Club Women’s Rugby! Practice is every Tuesday, 5–7 p.m., and every Thursday, 6–8 p.m., on Hendricken Field. For inquiries to play, reach out to President Christina Andruss at (203) 832-9400.

Women’s Rugby Hits the Field

by The Cowl Editor on September 21, 2017

Friar Sports

Women’s Rugby Team
photo courtesy of Madeline Lally’ 19

by Meaghan Cahill ’20

Sports Reporter

While they may only be a club team on campus, the Providence College Women’s Rugby Team is definitely a team to keep your eyes on. The team is a part of the Rugby Northeast Conference. The team is run by Providence College students with an executive board consisting only of seniors. Katherine Shields ’18 is the president of the team, as well as a second row player for the team. She is assisted by Danielle Civitarese ’18, who is the team’s Vice President and occupies the hooker position.

Led by a new coach this year, former Providence College rugby player Michele, the team is completely made up of juniors and seniors, with the exception of Ariel Tavares ’20, who is a flanker. This includes last year’s Fall 2016 Tier 1 All-Conference team qualifiers Mickayla Roan ’18, who is a flanker and also the back’s captain this year, and Aria Ross ’18, who is a center. Ross also made the Rugby Northeast 2016 All-Conference first team and is the forwards’ captain for the team this year. Ross, Shields, and Roan were all named to the 2015 Rugby Northeast All-Conference first team and within that same year, Roan was named Rugby Northeast Player of the Year. The team is not new to the game and clearly have the experience that they need for a successful season. According to Madeline Lally ’19, “The team is a great group of girls who look out and care for one another. They never fail to motivate me and my teammates, do their best, and always improve.”

Their best was proved to be good enough this past Friday, September 16 when they beat Stonehill 42-17 in their first game of the season. Their fall season consists of eight games this season, four home games and four away games. The season goes right into the first week of November and then the team takes a reprieve as they wait for the better playing conditions that the spring will bring.

Lally also commented on the team’s goals for their fall season, saying, “I would say our goal is of course to win as many as possible and to have fun doing it!” Lally played wing for the team last year, but states that this season her position “looks like [it] could be anywhere on the back line.” While talking about the team and the season with her, Lally also explained why she joined the team in the first place, saying that she “joined because I missed the team sports I played in high school and wanted to be a part of something more competitive than intramurals.”

The rugby team plays their next game in Friartown against St. Michael’s College on Sept. 30 at Hendricken Field.