Ilona Maher reacts to adorable video featuring her and Bristol Bears teammate Sarah Bern spending time together

American union rugby player, Ilona Maher recently shared her emotions about her Bristol Bears teammate, Sarah Bern. This comes ahead of the Bears' semifinal clash against Gloucester-Hartpury on Sunday (March 2).

Bern has been a member of the Bristol Bears roster since 2018 and has also competed for the English national rugby team. The 27-year-old plays as a tighthead in the team and also shares good relations with the 2024 Paris Olympics bronze medalist, Ilona Maher.

The Bristol Bears Women's team's Instagram handle shared a video in which Maher and Bern can be seen spending some time together during practice sessions. The post was captioned:

"Everyone’s favourite rugby besties"

Maher reacted to the video and dropped a comment for her teammate, Sarah Bern.

"Das my dawg right there" she wrote.

Screenshot of Maher's comment for teammate Sarah Bern (Image via: Bristol Bear's Women's Instagram)

The Bristol Bears women's team will play their semifinal match at the Kingsholm Stadium. The Bears have faced Gloucester-Hartpury twice in the 2025 regular season matches and have been victorious once.

---

Ilona Maher opens up about her early years in the circuit of rugby

Maher during the last group stage match of the Bristol Bears against the Harlequins Women at The Stoop (Image via: Getty Images)

Ilona Maher spoke about her early interests in the sports world and also explained how she got attracted to rugby.

In an interview, Maher shared that she played several sports such as softball, hockey and basketball during her initial years despite her father being a rugby player. Additionally, Maher also mentioned that she got interested in rugby during her time in senior high school. She said (via BBC Sounds, 5:50 onwards)

"I played so many sports, I played hockey, basketball, softball, I did some soccer, track and field. In the US, you are kind of encouraged to play all these sports. My dad was a rugby guy but I never tried rugby because there's no high-level rugby for young girls and boys in the US, so I played high-level basketball and what not."

"I decided to try out rugby at my senior high school and I think it just worked with me is this ability to not tone yourself down in the game, like they want you to be as powerful as you can," she further added.

During the conversation, Ilona Maher also stated that she loves rugby because of the fact that it helps to express her individuality through the sport.