ACCRA, Ghana, June 7, 2018/APO Group/ — Leading hospitality firm, the Golden Tulip Accra Hotel pledged to further support Ghana Rugby (GhanaRugby.org) at a function in Accra on 5 June 2018.

General Manager (GM) of Golden Tulip, Paul Kavanagh made this known when the Ghana Rugby Eagles that won the 2018 Rugby Africa Bronze Cup called on the hotel to present the trophy.

The occasion was also a show of appreciation for the kind support the hotel rendered to the successful organisation of the tournament held in May this year at the Nduom Sports Stadium at Elmina in the Central Region.

Ghana Rugby won its second significant trophy after securing the 2018 Rugby Africa Bronze Cup on home soil.

The Eagles proved that their 57-0 semi-final win over Rwanda was not a fluke as they defeated high-rated Mauritius in the final by 23 points to 17 to win the competition held at the Nduom Stadium.

Mauritius began on an auspicious note and it was no surprise they took an early lead but the Eagles of Ghana rallied back in super fashion. They ended the first period with an 8-5 lead.

Ghana held on to secure the win and subsequently qualified to compete in the 2018 Rugby Africa Silver Cup.

Addressing the team which was led to the hotel by the president of Ghana Rugby, Herbert Mensah, the GM underscored that Golden Tulip Accra remained committed to supporting the development of Rugby in Ghana in whatever way it can.

But that, he warned, was on the condition that the team shall continue to train hard to win trophies.

He charged the team to go to Tunisia and win the 2018 Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens Tournament to make the country proud.

Kavanagh also made the following comment in a Facebook post, “Having fun with the Ghana National Rugby team at the hotel today. Really great guys, who work damn hard to achieve their dreams.”

Mensah, on his part, acknowledged the extensive assistance the hotel has rendered to the team, saying this year’s tournament would not have been successful without the support of Golden Tulip Accra.

“Rugby, like many other minority sports, receive no support from the government and we have few other options than to call on corporate Ghana to benefit from the support to the Union.

Mr Kavanagh and the Golden Tulip Accra answered this call in more than one ways and thus played a significant role in the Bronze Cup victory,” Mensah said.

Mensah continued to say that Ghana Rugby’s next three significant challenges are the 2018 Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens tournament (Tunisia) in

October, the 2019 Rugby Africa Silver Cup for the Ghana Eagles men’s fifteens team and the 2019 Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens.

“I have publicly committed to tender again to host the 2019 Rugby Africa Silver Cup, and we would not even have considered that without the pledge from the Golden Tulip Accra,” Mensah said.

Other corporate bodies who supported Ghana Rugby to cover some of the Bronze Cup hosting cost included the Panafrican Equipment Group in partnership with Komatsu, Interplast, the Gino brands, Ernest Chemists and others.

Mensah said that the achievements of Ghana Rugby would not have been possible without the generous support for national assignments, but that the Union requires substantial additional funds for other Key Performance Areas.

These areas of management of the Game of Rugby include aspects such as governance, youth development through the World Rugby “Get Into Rugby” programme, women’s rugby development and training and education.

“Our commitment to our sponsors and supporters is to leave no stone unturned to firstly make them proud of their association with Ghana Rugby through our performance but to ensure that they get the benefits of exposure and acknowledgement from this association,” Mensah said.