Rugby Championship features battles for top honours

The 2015/16 Ghana Rugby Club Championship (GRCC) is drawing to a close and will feature the top four teams who will battle for a place in the finals next week Saturday at the Accra Sports Stadium .

The semi finals to be played this Saturday at the same venue, will feature Conquerors SC, first placed on the log after the round robin phase, against Idas Sports RFC who ended fourth on the log. In the second semi final Cosmos Buffaloes RFC, last year’s Champion, who placed second on the 2015/16 log will face the third placed Dansoman Hurricanes RFC.

The matches are scheduled for kickoff at 11am and 1pm and will be preceded by various development activities including a training session for kids, matches between boys and girls, a match between two women’s 7s teams and a match between two second division teams.

The President of the Ghana Rugby Football Union (GRFU), Mr. Herbert Mensah, said that he was impressed with the quality and level of Rugby displayed at the 2015/16 GRCC matches.

“My administration and I would like to firstly again express our sincere condolences to World Rugby and the family and loved ones of Mr. Jean-Luc Barthe, Rugby Services Manager (Africa), who sadly and untimely passed away yesterday in his home near Castres in France. He has served Rugby on the continent of Africa for the last fourteen years and will be missed by all,” Mr. Mensah said.

“Rugby in Ghana has made noticeable progress since the 2014/15 Championship and even though there is ample space for further improvement it is gratifying to see that there is movement in the right direction,” Mr. Mensah said.

According to Mr. Mensah his administration has identified a set of key strategic priorities for Ghana Rugby that include Best practice governance, overcoming the development dilemma - funding and resources, improving technical capabilities, improving and extending domestic competitions, international match exposure, grassroots or “Get Into Rugby” development and Women’s Rugby.

Mr. Mensah continued to say,“Ghana Rugby is in an embryonic phase if you consider that a country like England has been affiliated to World Rugby for 126 years while Ghana Rugby only affiliated in 2004 or 114 years after England. That is, however, no excuse as long as the whole Rugby Family in Ghana focuses on the priorities and in fact schedule the priorities instead of just prioritising schedules. We have to do the right things right the first time!”

The action of the Ghana Rugby Club Championship will continue this Saturday at the Accra Sports Stadium with the semi finals featuring Conquerors SC, first placed on the log after the round robin phase, against Idas Sports RFC who ended fourth on the log. In the second semi final Cosmos Buffaloes RFC, last year’s Champion, who placed second on the 2015/16 log will face the third placed Dansoman Hurricanes RFC.

The GRCC matches are scheduled for kickoff at 11am and 1pm and will be preceded by various development activities including a training session for kids, matches between boys and girls, a match between two women’s 7s teams and a match between two second division teams.

Women’s Rugby is one of the strategic priorities of the Herbert Mensah led administration and will receive a lot of attention in the 2016/17 season.