Ghana national rugby union team

Ghana
Union Ghana Rugby Football Union
Coach(es) Amuzu Salim
Team kit
First international
Ghana  29 - 8  Mauritania
(2003-10-05)
Largest win
Ghana 29 - 8  Mauritania
(2003-10-05)
Largest defeat
Ghana  3 - 40  Cameroon
(2003-10-08)

The Ghana national rugby union team represents Ghana in international rugby union. Ghana are not a member of the International Rugby Board (IRB), and have yet to play in a Rugby World Cup tournament. Ghana played their first international during the 2003 season, and defeated Mauritania 29 points to 8. Since then Ghana has had much interest from Gap Year Agencies such as Gap Sports and also has a number of youth teams of which to boast (especially of the under-18 team who won a junior rugby competition). The National Team itself has hosted a tournament and had some credible results on the field.

History

Despite only forming in 2005, the Ghana National Rugby Union Team has improved rapidly with a number of competitions under their belts. The team was founded by a coach from Cameroon named Guy Chaley who recruited players, including coach Amuzu Salim, to play their first international match. With the help of businesswoman Gifty Annan-Myers, support from the government was gained for the national team, however they were not funded. Shortly after they were thrown into their first African Tournament which had impressed the African rugby world. This was followed by the death of Guy Chaley which stunted the success and growth of the team. Amuzu Salim was then able to train as a coach to train the Ghana Under 18, 15 and 12 teams as well as much help coming in the form of volunteers from Gap Year agencies. Notable gap year helpers include Peter Dear who helped start the school program in Accra and surrounding areas. A significant amount of kit was also donated by Peter, enabling Amuzu to kick his coaching success into gear. Since the first tournament, the team have been included in the Castel Beer Trophies which are development tournament for smaller rugby nations of Africa. This has led to great success and the Country even making the Final of the 2009 Development Trophy in Togo. Ghana's continued improvement post 2009 has been attributed to continued tours against local African competition and moving towards French and Australian gap year coaches.

CAR Castel Beer Trophy

Recently the Ghana National Rugby Team has been taking part in the African Rugby Trophy (sponsored by Castel Beer)and even hosted the tournament in 2008 in Accra where they came a respectable 3rd position.

2007 Castel Beer Trophy - Pool B

Standings

Country GP W D L +/- Pts
 Nigeria 3 3 0 0 +57 13
 Togo 3 2 0 1 +8 8
 Ghana 3 1 0 2 -16 4
 Benin 3 0 0 3 -49 1

2008 Castel Beer Trophy - pool A

Standings

Country GP W D L +/- Pts
 Burkina Faso 2 2 0 0 28 9
 Ghana 2 1 0 1 8 5
 Chad 2 0 0 2 -9 0

3rd versus 4th Playoff

2008-06-29
 Ghana 27 - 6  Togo

2009 African Development Trophy - Pool B

Standings

Country GP W D L +/- Pts
 Ghana 3 2 1 0 +54 11
 Burkina Faso 3 2 0 1 +43 9
 Nigeria 3 1 1 1 +33 7
Togo II 3 0 0 3 -131 0

Final

2009-07-18
 Niger 5 - 3  Ghana

Paul Sackey Visit

In September 2008 England Rugby Star Paul Sackey visited Ghana and helped out in coaching the Teams. Both of Paul Sackey's Parents are from Ghana and the England International even wore the Ghana National Rugby shirt.

See also

External links