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National Rugby Team Cries For Coach

Fri, 23 Apr 2004 Source: --

The president of the Ghana Rugby Association (GRA), Ms Gifty Annan-Myers, has said that the nation's rugby could rise to the level of South Africa,if a permanent Ghanaian coach could be trained to offer technical guidance to the national team.

She said the desire to engage a foreign coach could be a nightmare because the financial base of the association is too weak to cater for a foreign coach."To hire an experienced foreign coach stands to benefit the national team though, but it is very expensive to retain them.

I have no doubt that the Ghanaian coaches can do it better thereby moving the vision forward if they are made to undergo the necssary training to be abreast of the rudiments of the sport", she said.She said at least three Ghanaians interested in rugby would be selected for the training exercise.

"While our coaches are getting up to standard, we can always bring in a foreign coach to assist the national team in their preparation towards international matches". Ms Annan-Myers said as part of the activities for the year,the rugby association will hold a rugby festival between September and October at the El-Wak Stadium after it had launched the sport in communities in the Accra metropolis.

According to her, the Kaawo-Kudi community branch has already been established while steps are being taken to establish the Nima-Maamobi, Dansoman-Kaneshie and Osu and Ga Central branches.The GRA president was however, optimistic that with the establishment of the sport in communities and schools, Ghanaians will understand and accept it as one of the nation's sports.

"With this, we are sure of getting more support both material and financial that will usher us to another stage of the game", she said.With less than a month to travel to Lome to participate in the Super 16 Groupings tournament, the national team does not have a coach which is expected to be provided by the International Rugby Board (IRB) to assist in preparation towards the impending competition.

For now, the players have taken their destiny into their own hands to fight while officials of the GRA keep their fingers crossed for the arrival of the foreign coach. It is sad to note that since the former rugby national coach, Mr Guy Charly broke his relationship with the association in October last year, the team has been without a coach.

As a result the team trains once a week under the technical guidance of Mr Sakkie Le Roux, an ex-rugby player from South Africa who is in the country to work on the Korle Lagoon project and has volunteered to assist the team though only on Saturdays.

Aside being the Africa giants, South Africa is rated among the best five rugby nations in the world. Her ability to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup which she hosted, boldly underline the fact that South Africa has set for herself an enviable record in that realm.

Notwithstanding that fact, Ms Annan-Myers believes Ghana could get there with the necessary logistics in place. "We can make it without necessarily engaging a foreign coach, it all depends on the level of the government's preparedness to support the sport."

Source: --