The Rizz Ruby team — a powerhouse lineup combining players from the Bow Valley Rugby Club (BVRC) and Calgary Rams — is heading into Saturday’s Alberta Women's Premier League provincial championship with an undefeated season on the line.
The squad faces the Edmonton Leprechaun Tigers (LP) at the Calgary Rugby Union on Aug. 16, the same team that beat them in last year’s title game.
“We’ve got a bit of redemption. We’re ready,” said Megan MacLean, BVRC vice-president of women’s rugby. “That’s firing us up to see this thing through to the end. We’ve got a great group of girls.”
Five Bow Valley players are expected to be on the Rizz premiership roster Saturday, part of a broader partnership that has 15 BVRC women playing between the top-tier and first-division teams. This is the second year of the Bow Valley–Rams alliance, a move MacLean says has provided valuable coaching, high-level teammates and fresh learning opportunities.
The Bow Valley second-division side, playing under the Rams name, saw its season end in the semifinals two weeks ago with a loss to Lethbridge.
The Rizz are 10-0 heading into the final. They scored 527 points and allowed 106 — a massive differential of 421 points.
The Edmonton LP finished second in the regular season with a 7-3 record, scoring 336 points and allowing 285 for a 51-point differential.
On Aug. 9, the Rizz beat the Nor Westers 53-21 in the semifinals to advance. The LP edged the Calgary Irish 27-26 in the other semifinal.
MacLean says women’s rugby is growing in Canada, helped by the national women’s team being ranked second in the world ahead of this year’s World Cup in England from Sept. 22 to 27.
There's a strong core of women players coming up through the ranks of the Bow Valley Club and the CobraCats high school team. Five U17 women players were recently on a Vancouver Island tour with the Alberta Wolfpack.
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MacLean hopes the club’s growing youth program will soon feed directly into its senior women’s ranks.
Saturday’s final kicks off at 4 p.m. on Pitch 1 at the Calgary Rugby Union, with a strong Bow Valley contingent expected in the stands.
“We’re excited. We’re ready to leave it all on the pitch,” MacLean said.