Lizzie Musa
When not scoring tries for London Irish, Lizzie Musa is best known as Ruckstar Lizzie on TikTok and Instagram where she has gained more than 100k followers from hitting the streets and getting members of the public to test their rugby skills. Lizzie talks to Rugby Journal Weekly about her rugby life…
I started an online magazine called ‘Ruckstars’ to promote women’s rugby. It started off with me just interviewing players and female coaches. But one of my friends told me that if you put your face in front of a brand, it will grow faster. So, I tried it, and from literally nothing, it just blew up. My TikTok account has a hundred thousand followers, and on Instagram there are more than thirty thousand.
A lot of my content now involves getting the public involved in rugby related challenges. ‘How many kick-ups can you do with a rugby ball’, ‘can you grip this ball off me?’. I really enjoy doing the challenges because sometimes I just forget the camera is there.
I film content pretty much everywhere I go. I have done stuff in Mexico, and Paris (I did last season out in France, at a club called Stade Rennais). In Mexico, everyone was open to giving it a go – I think they were confused by the ball. They were asking me ‘why is it that shape?’
My older sister is the one that got me into rugby. She played in the first women’s team at Dartfordians. She wanted me to go along too. At first, I was a bit hesitant as I’d watched rugby and thought it was a bit slow. She reassured me it was just touch to begin with, so I went along. I loved the first session, and I’ve never looked back.
Coaches would put me on the wing because of my speed. Give me the ball and I would score, but I didn’t have the rugby brain to begin with. I didn’t know any other position except for wing for the first year or so. The more I played though, the more I noticed the subtle, unglamorous things. Before, I would always have my eye on the finisher, but now I’ll realise that try was scored two phases before.
I’m playing for London Irish right now, and I’m in the Saracens squad too. I really enjoy playing for Irish, they have an all-female set of staff. As a woman being coached by women, it makes a huge difference. I’m the top try scorer so far this season, even though I joined three games in. We will see how the rest of the season goes.
I’ve started doing more stuff with professional players and teams too. Someone from BT reached out to me recently before the Harlequins versus Bristol double header and asked me if I wanted to do some content with the girls. It was a great opportunity to do some stuff with 15s players. I do a lot at sevens’ tournaments, but I can’t exactly turn up to Sarries or London Irish training and say, ‘hey guys, lets film some stuff’. It just isn’t the time or place really, I’m there to train.
I’m trying to navigate the best direction with creating content alongside playing. So far, it hasn’t really conflicted that much, but I’m starting to see ways in which it might. I’m starting to think, where am I going with this? The short answer is I’m still working it out.
If I had to choose between social media journalism and playing, I would take going as far as I can with rugby. In an ideal world, I would be able to do both. Having rugby helps because you stand out in the group of influencers when you have a sport. In the rugby environment, the social media side of things can support your career too.
