The Bow Valley and Cochrane High School joint Boy's Rugby team is heading to Provincials for the first time in six years after conquering the South Central Zone on Wed. May 25.

The team crushed the Strathmore High School 27-12, Corina Bauer, the team manager says the game went as expected.

"We knew it was going to be work, it wasn't going to a cakewalk by any means," she explains. "We were hopeful, and kind of thought that we should win, but we knew we had to work."

She believes Strathmore is a good team, however, Bow Valley's strong defense helped the boys pull through.

"The boys played outstanding, they played a really good game, very strong. A lot of it was the good defensive game that prevented Strathmore from making those scoring opportunities. We were able to shut down their fast guys, and make tackles when we needed to."

Bauer adds there was another key to their success.

"I think what was also in our favour is that we played some very challenging teams this season, Holy Trinity Academy, and Foothills Composite, Tier 1 teams...It made our boys really step up their game, and realize what they needed to do to work on it. I think Strathmore didn't play as many challenging teams."

The boys will take on Lethbridge June 3-4 in the Alberta Schools Athletic Association Championships.

She thinks the team won't have to make too many adjustments before the game.

"We're sticking to what we've been doing, we'll figure out what works, and what positions to put boys in."

Bauer explains the team has a significant number of players this season, 30 boys. During a match a team can only dress 25 boys, however, that just means a fresh roster every game.

"For game one you list 25, the second game you list a different 25. We've got a strong bench to go to...because they're all solid players, its nice to have that to turn to."

She is also encouraging high school aged girls to come join the girl's rugby team, this year the team was quite successful, but didn't have enough players to meet zone guidelines.