Ilona Maher will not waltz into this in-form Bristol Bears team

Bristol Bears 54 Sale Sharks 17

It has hardly been a quiet couple of weeks for Bristol Bears. The club’s blockbuster signing of Ilona Maher, rugby’s social media phenomenon who is single handedly attracting more eyes to the sport than most male professionals have managed in decades, made global headlines earlier this month.

Her box-office move was accompanied by unprecedented fanfare. Bristol women’s Instagram following has almost quadrupled over the past fortnight. Maher replica shirts are understood to be flying off the shelves, many of which are being shipped to the star’s growing fan club across the pond.

The expectation that the United States star, who won bronze at the Paris Olympics, should be given a cameo in Bristol’s West Country derby on January 5 will weigh heavy. Yet Maher, who finished second on Dancing With The Stars – the US equivalent of Strictly Come Dancing – cannot be expected to waltz her way into Bristol’s squad simply because of her sky-rocketing profile.

So where will the sevens specialist fit into Bristol’s rock-solid team? The question might have been answered in the Bears’ convincing win over Sale, with Amber Reed and Jenna de Vela having joined the club’s growing injury list at inside centre.

Maher has been deployed on the wing and in the centres on each of the three times she trained with the wider squad before flying back to the US to fulfil obligations with Dancing With The Stars last week. With Scotland duo Emma Orr and Meryl Smith yet to shake off existing injuries, an appearance in the midfield is suddenly looking like a very real possibility.

“She can come and start for us next Saturday if she wants to,” joked Dave Ward, the Bristol head coach, who was at pains to stress that rugby’s biggest commercial star in a generation fits into the league’s meagre £220,000 salary cap. “We’re going to need those reinforcements. From a rugby perspective, the way she came over and trained and being the rugby player she is – absolutely, midfield, wing [is what we’re thinking]. There’s going to be opportunities for her early and we want to get her involved early.”

Ward will be under considerable pressure to give Maher adequate minutes during her three-month stay as the club look to capitalise on her extraordinary reach (she has 4.7 million followers on Instagram and counting). With her physicality and raw pace, Maher has demonstrated why she is a forward in a back’s body, but Ward is wary of pigeonholing her position.

“We’ve mainly used her in the backs to start off with, but we have done a bit of line-out lifting with her as well, a bit of jumping, again a general skill, just to keep her up to speed with everything,” he added. “She wants to try everything, which we’re quite keen for. We’re not saying one or the other at the moment, but more likely [it’s going to be] the backs to start off with and, if there’s that opportunity for that hybrid backs-forwards role, that could work really well.”

Maher has mooted the idea of playing on the wing, which may seem an obvious starting point for a player transitioning back into the XVs game. But in this area Bristol are ladened with talent, with England under-20 hotshot Reneeqa Bonner and Wales’s Courtney Keight both seasoned starters in the position.

Maher is also unlikely to dislodge England under-20 sensation Millie David, given the 19-year-old is enjoying a breakthrough season. The PWR’s top try-scorer was on the scoresheet once again at Shaftesbury Park, scything through Sale’s defence to dot down Bristol’s sixth try of the match and extend her try-scoring tally to 11.

The youngster’s snappy run had earlier proved the attacking platform for Bristol’s third, finished by Ella Lovabond, as the hosts clamoured into gear to see off a determined Sale. Should she keep up her rich vein of form, David could be a bolter for John Mitchell’s Red Roses squad for next year’s home World Cup, the same tournament that Maher has set her sights on. After her exploits in the ballroom, time will tell whether rugby’s mega star can find her XVs feet.

Match details

Trying sequence: 5-0 Atkin-Davies try, 5-5 Philipps try, 10-5 Bern try, 12-5 Aitchison con, 12-10 Rigoni, 12-12 Wilkins con, 17-12 Lovabond try, 19-12 Aitchison con, 26-12 penalty try, 31-12 Atkin-Davies try, 33-12 Aitchison con, 33-17 Thorpe try, 38-17 David try, 40-17 Aitchison con, 45-17 J Sprague, try, 47-17 Aitchison con, 52-17 Aitchison try, 54-17 Aitchison con.

Bristol: E Lovabond; C Keight (F Lewis 41), P Murray, J De Vera (A Reed 25, A Coles 38), M David; H Aitchison, L Burgess; S Pam (H Phillips 54), L Atkin-Davies (J Sprague 55), S Bern (H Botterman 48), H Cunningham (D Burns 60), A Ward, A Joyce-Butchers, E Gallagher, R Marston-Mulhearn (G Nigrelli 55).

Sale: N Prothero; S Hopkins, R Philipps, B Rigoni, E Wood (H Thorpe 48); R Wilkins (L Duffy 48), S Stefan (O Ortiz 69); D Harper (A Schonert 59), S Fielding (S Lewis 59), M Morrissey (E Roach 59), I Antwis, A Hyndman (C Benson 48), N Swailes, J Hazell (K Moore 69).

Yellow cards: James, Wood.

Referee: Ben Wood.