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U.S. women’s rugby “hopes a surprise bronze medal” at the Paris Games “will shine widely at a time when women are more visible in the sport than ever before,” according to the BOSTON GLOBE’s Matt Porter. The sport “is getting more social media attention than ever before thanks to a likable star in Ilona Maher, and the U.S. will host several major rugby tournaments over the next decade. The 2028 Summer Olympics will be in LA, while the Rugby World Cup will come to the U.S. in 2031 for the men and 2033 for the women. Amy Rusert, commissioner of the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association, said the time is “now” to start building the sport while “the iron is hot.” Since the 1990s, the women’s rugby movement has “lobbied the NCAA to no avail to be recognized as a full-fledged sport.” As of last school year, there were 27 women’s college rugby programs, “far fewer than the 40 needed to achieve full NCAA status.” Massachusetts and California are the only two states that offer rugby at their high schools. Women’s Elite Rugby, which plans to compete in six to eight U.S. markets in 2025, “hopes that Team USA’s strong response in Paris” will help the group “professionalize women’s rugby in the U.S.” Meanwhile, USA Rugby — the sport’s governing body — is “focusing on growing the women’s sevens team, which just won bronze.” It will “upgrade its program for LA 2028,” thanks in part to a $4 million commitment from businesswoman and investor Michele Kang (BOSTON GLOBE, August 14).

THAT MEANS SOMETHING: In Hartford, Kels Dayton said, when Maher returned to the U.S. on Monday, she celebrated her 28th birthday and appeared on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” where she talked about the “power that rugby has had in her life.” Maher: “Seeing people tune in and seeing that rugby seems to be a fun sport is really great because we want to get people excited about the sport. I know what it’s done for me, how it’s changed my body confidence and given me good self-esteem, and I know it can do that for so many other girls too.” She added: “I’m so glad they’ve gotten a taste for it and maybe they’ll go to their local club or college and give it a try” (HARTFORD COURANT, August 13.).

We are hiring: In London, Kate Rowan wrote that a collaboration between the “fun-loving and quirky” Maher and Prince Harry, now officially living in the US, “could go a long way to building the hype” for rugby sevens at the LA Games. Given Maher’s “current reach within the game, it would be a smart move for her to become heavily involved in promoting the first men’s Rugby World Cup in North America.” If rugby “wants to go global, it needs a cheerleader and ambassador for the sport” who knows the US and traditional rugby markets and has experience at both the Olympics and a Rugby World Cup. Rowan wrote that “one person who ticks all of these boxes on his resume,” with his leading role at the 2015 World Cup in England and as a regular participant at the 2012 Games in London, “is Prince Harry” (London TELEGRAPH, 8/12).