photo credit: Grant Ruof
Women’s rugby has been on the rise in recent years and is only continuing to grow. According to World Rugby, engagement has grown to 89 percent in the United States in the past four years, and 49 percent of those fans have joined in the past two years. I hope that we only see the game continue to rise from here.
A U.S. women’s rugby team was first present at the Olympics at the 2016 games held in Rio. In the latest 2024 Olympics, held in Paris, the U.S. team won its first medal at the games when it placed third and received a bronze medal. The 2024 Women’s Rugby team contains one of my personal favorite athletes, Ilona Maher.
Maher is not only an amazing athlete, but she also has a large presence on social media, with 3.9 million followers on TikTok and 5.4 million on Instagram. She is a big advocate for body positivity and confidence. She was also on the popular show “Dancing With the Stars” and made it to the finale with her partner Alan Bersten.
In addition, Maher had a partnership with Maybelline to promote one of their lipsticks. According to PR Newswire, Maher was a part of the campaign for Maybelline’s Super Stay Matte Ink Liquid Lipstick. During this campaign, she talked about how the lipstick would last even through her demanding training sessions and games. As someone who loves both makeup and sports, it is so special to see two of my favorite things together.
Maher has become an inspiration for countless young female athletes and is a big part of the sport’s recent growth. She is one of the most, if not the most well known female rugby player.
Women’s rugby is not talked about enough, and in my opinion, the sport and players deserve way more recognition for the dedication and talent needed to be successful in this sport. According to World Rugby Passport, the game requires speed, endurance, functional competence and strength.
Something else that makes rugby so difficult is the size of the field, also known as the pitch. According to Pitch booking, the width of the pitch can range from 230 to 223 ft, and the height can be anywhere from 328 to 308 ft, this means that a rugby pitch is actually bigger than a soccer field
According to Six Nations Rugby, the game does not have a lot of clock stoppage. This makes the game so much more fun to watch. The game has more flow than other sports like football, where I can sometimes get distracted or bored because of all the breaks.
Something that I find really interesting about rugby is that none of the players wear that much padding, if any at all. Instead, the players are taught to use strategies such as using shoulders and arms when making contact, and players even get penalized for making hits above that or doing any other dangerous plays, according to USA Rugby.
USA Rugby continues on to say that these punishments can include a yellow card with the player having to sit on the bench for two minutes in rugby sevens and 10 minutes in rugby 15s, and even serious ones can result in a red card
According to Rugby World Cup, there was a women’s Rugby World cup in 2025, where England defeated Canada with a score of 33-13.
Rugby is such an interesting game, with so many different rules and players. So next time you’re bored, consider checking out a women’s rugby game. You’ll have lots of fun and really end up falling in love with the game.
