Women's Day at the Southern Alberta Rugby Union: 2026 Edition

On June 13, 2026, the Southern Alberta Rugby Union (SARU) Celebrated its annual Women's Day at its home in Calgary. All Senior Women's teams from Calgary and Southern Alberta competed in various matches throughout the day, which showcased the best the rugby ladies had to offer.

On the main field, there were four games played consecutively, including all three games of this round of Alberta Women's Premier competition. The first game featured the Calgary Canucks taking on the Edmonton Leprechaun Tigers (LTs). Despite having no wins in their first two games, the Canucks came out flying in this match, scoring the first two tries in the first 20 minutes. Despite the LTs showing some strong push back and even posessing the ball many times deep in Canucks territory, they were only able to muster four tries and got no closer than 29-17 in the 60th minute. Zina Umeh scored twice for the Canucks, and Gemma Ogoke added one of her own in the 36th minute, after receiving an offload from Millie Teskey following a long run. "We had been working so hard to really put the gel together," Ogoke said after the game, "After a couple of tight losses, we really wanted to come here and show out, and we did that and I'm just so proud of our team." Ogoke was named player of the game for the Canucks, who got their first win of the season, 41-22, moving them into sixth place in the table, while the LTs were handed their first loss, and they now sit third in the table.

Post-game photo featuring the Canucks (White) and Leprechaun Tigers (Green)

In the third game on the main field, but the second AWP game of the day, the reigning provincial champion Calgary Rams took on the Strathcona Druids from Sherwood Park, Alberta. The Rams came in with three straight victories to start their title defense, while the Druids were 2-1 and looking to make a statement. The Rams came out firing, scoring four tries in the first 15 minutes. Rams center Izzy Weist scored two of them, and the Rams jumped out to a 26-5 advantage. However, the Druids would fight back, first by pulling to within 7 points thanks to a last-minute try by Kayleigh Noel, her second try of the game. Then in the 46th minute, Sydney Tasic scored a try, and the ensuing conversion by Keira Skrenek tied the game at 33. But then the Rams took over the game. They retook the lead nine minutes later when winger Brittany Jones scored a try in the corner, putting them back up by five. Then veteran center Maddy Aberg, who already scored a try earlier in the game, managed to score three more tries to put it away for the Rams. Aberg was named Player of the game as the Rams won 59-38. "I think that our win today came down to a lot of grit and friendship and teamwork because the Druids were awesome and they really tested our defence today and really showed us." Aberg said of her team's performance today. When asked about how it felt to get a win on Women's Day, she said, "it feels really good. I feel like the win was a win for women's rugby, so I feel like we all won today." For the Druids, front-row forward Janelle Amyotte was given the POG honours. With this win, the Rams improve to 4-0 and are in second place in the AWP table, while Druids now sit in fourth place.

Post-game team photo with the Druids (Red) and the Rams (White)

In the night-cap, it was an all-Calgary battle between the Hornets and the Canadian Irish Athletic Club (Irish, for short), featuring players and coaches on both sides who are mostly involved in Canada West women's rugby with the University of Calgary and the University of Lethbridge. It was a dream start for the Irish, who scored the first try of the game on a long run by second-year winger Maori de Jesus Gilhula. Despite this, the Hornets buckled down and were able to dominate in terms of ball posession, leading to two tries which gave them a 14-5 lead. The irish managed to pull to within two in the 24th minute, but turnovers prevented future scoring and led to a Hornets try ten minuted later by Rowan McLellan to give the Hornets a 19-12 lead. Five minutes later, scrum-half Gabby Oprea picked up the ball and snaked her way past three Irish defenders and put the ball down to lift the Hornets to a 26-12 halftime lead, after another successful conversion by Emma Cook. The Hornets dominated the second half, never allowing the Irish too many posessions in their territory and while their own offense seemed to move the ball more conservatively, it was enough for them to put the game away with three tries compared to two for the Irish, with one of those tries coming from their captain, middle-row forward Sydney Bachynsky, who picked up the ball from the breakdown at around her own ten-metre hash, and powered her way to the goal for the score in the 70th minute. Then on the final play, fullback Maddy Tumato scored one last try for the Hornets, making the final score 50-24. With this win, the Hornets now improve to 4-0 and sit atop the AWP table. They changed coaches in the offseason, bringing back veteran coaches Graham Moffat and Leah Conforti, who have not coached the team in three years, and the results so far suggest this is what the Hornets were missing after finishing the last two seasons bear the bottom of the league standings. Bachynsky was named player of the game for the Hornets, while the player of the game for the Irish was their captain, number eight Katie Salverda. The loss drops the Irish to 0-4, but with the accumulated bonus points they sit seventh in the nine-team table.

Irish (White) and Hornets (Black and Yellow) post-game team photo

These ladies put on a fantastic show all day, proving that women's rugby is a true staple of summer sports in Alberta. This year's women's day was a great success, and I enjoyed watching every minute of it. Good luck to all those competing for the rest of the season...more great rugby is coming our way.