'A rival becomes a teammate' - Ilona Maher on which teammate she was thrilled to play alongside

Bristol Bears player Ilona Maher was excited to take to the pitch alongside a teammate who used to be a fierce rival on Sunday.

Maher made her debut for Bristol in Premiership Women’s Rugby against Gloucester-Hartpury where the defending champions came out 40-17 winners.

Reflecting on the match, Maher was thrilled to have called Jasmine Joyce-Butchers her teammate. The pair would be on opposing teams on the sevens circuit with Maher competing for the US and Jasmine-Joyce part of the GB team.

“She is one of the best, not only sevens but 15s player,” Maher said. “Someone who can truly transition between games. She had a great tackle on me in the Olympics and she is somebody, we always have had important games against her.

“She is somebody, every time she tackles she has no fear, she is one of the best tacklers in the world. So to get to play with her and have her hype me up and talk to me [was great]. Throughout the game she was like ‘I’m going to get you the ball now’, it didn’t work out just because of how the defence was but to have a rival become your teammate it shows the type of sport we play.

“Everybody in the PWR, the players who have messaged me are so excited for me to be here because they see the value and they want their league to succeed and they are willing to help in any way.”

The result has put a dent in Bristol’s top four hopes as they trail fourth-place Sarries by six points with six rounds of the regular season left to be played.

In the PWR the top four teams go through to the semi-finals in a bid to make the final where the title will be decided.

Saracens, Exeter, Gloucester and Harlequins currently hold the spots.

The other PWR results over the weekend were:

Trailfinders 39-46 Harlequins

Leicester 38-17 Sale Sharks

Loughborough Lightning 22-17 Saracens