Sports

US rugby hopes Ilona Maher will be part of England and Fiji DC doubleheader

Stephen Collopy March 18, 2025 3 min read

Steve Borthwick’s England team will play in Washington DC in July, World Rugby and USA Rugby will formally announce on Tuesday, in a double-header that may see the superstar Ilona Maher run out for the US Eagles women against Fiji.

“The US is a rapidly growing rugby market with strong commercial and hosting interest ahead of the 2031 and 2033 Rugby World Cups,” said Brett Robinson, the World Rugby chair, announcing a 12-game US men’s and women’s summer schedule he said “reflects our ambition to … enhance performance, attract new audiences, and fuel rugby’s growth.”

The Washington double-header will take place on 19 July at Audi Field, home of DC United in Major League Soccer. The US men played at the venue last summer, losing 42-7 to Scotland on a predictably swampy evening by the Anacostia River.

Last weekend, in the altogether less humid climes of Cardiff, England finished the Six Nations with a 10-try, 68-14 win over Wales, missing out on the title to France but instilling new optimism throughout the national game.

England are set to play a non-cap game against a France XV at Twickenham on 21 June, followed by Tests against Argentina in Buenos Aires (5 July) and San Juan (12 July). The Washington game against Scott Lawrence’s improving US Eagles, now ranked 15th in the world, will round out the summer tour.

Borthwick will be without top players selected for the British and Irish Lions in Australia but could still field exciting talents such as Henry Pollock, the 20-year-old Northampton back-rower who scored twice on debut in Wales.

Canvassed by the Guardian, sources around the US game communicated fervent hope – tempered with realistic expectations – that Maher will play for the Eagles against Fiji.

One of the most followed athletes in the world, broadcasting a social-media message of empowerment and positivity, Maher followed Olympic sevens bronze in Paris last summer with second place on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars reality show.

Now seeking a spot on the US roster for the 15-a-side World Cup in England in August and September, Maher recently completed a successful stint with Bristol Bears, attracting record crowds for the English women’s game and generating valuable coverage and buzz.

Announcing the Audi Field occasion, Bill Goren, chief executive of USA Rugby, said he was “thrilled to bring the men’s and women’s Eagles to fans coast-to-coast, in the largest slate of home matches since 2019”.

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That summer schedule in fact begins in spring, with the women’s Eagles facing Japan at UCLA in California on 26 April, in another double-header, this time with the San Diego Legion and RFCLA of Major League Rugby, the professional men’s competition. On 2 May, the women will face Canada in Kansas City.

The men’s Eagles will warm up for England with two games in Charlotte, North Carolina, both against lower-ranked opposition: the Netherlands on 5 July and Spain a week later.

In August and September, the US will face Canada and Japan in pool play in the Pacific Nations Cup. With Japan and Fiji already qualified for the World Cup in Australia in 2027, the US, Canada, Samoa and Tonga will contest three finals spots available without further play-offs.