The Ghana Rugby Football Union (GRFU - Ghana Rugby) has announced the fixtures of the 2018 Ghana Rugby Club Championship (GRCC) Sevens Tournament.

The tournament will be played in a format similar to the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Series with 12 men’s and six women’s sevens teams competing in three men’s and two women’s pools on Saturdays from the end of June to end of August 2018.

According to Mr Herbert Mensah, President of Ghana Rugby, the GRCC Sevens will provide both players and spectators with lots of excitement and indeed fun.

“Sevens Rugby has become a popular format of the Game of Rugby due to its fast pace and shorter game time and the GRCC Sevens will be a spectacle not to be missed. We invite everybody to open up their Saturdays for the following two months and to join us for a day of fun,” Mensah said.

In the Accra section Accra Rugby Club, Conquerors Sporting Club, Cosmos Buffaloes RFC and Dansoman Hurricanes RFC will play in Pool A with Lions RFC, Accra Rugby Club 2, Conquerors Sporting Club 2 and Lions RFC 2 making up Pool B.

Matches will be played on the Accra Sports Stadium on Saturdays starting at 8 am with the last match kicking off at 6 pm.

Dennis Foundation Sporting Club, Griffons R F C, Western Cheetahs R F C and Stallions R F C will play in the Cape Coast section at the Robert Mensah Stadium.

The women’s sevens team will play in the Accra section and will consist of Conquerors Sporting Club, Cosmos Buffalos RFC and Griffons RFC in Pool A while Dansoman Hurricanes RFC, Lions RFC and Griffons RFC 2 will make up Pool B.

Playoffs will start at 2:40 pm in both Accra and Cape Coast.

The GRCC Sevens Tournament will also form part of Ghana rugby’s preparation for its participation in the 2018 Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens tournament that will be held in Tunisia between 11 and 13 October.

The Tunisia tournament will be contested between twelve African rugby nations that will include Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tunisia, Madagascar, Morocco, Senegal, Botswana, Ghana, Mauritius and Namibia.

In 2017 the Ghana Eagles participated for the first time in the Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens tournament and managed to beat Mauritius in the 9th Place Playoff.

The Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens tournament forms the basis of qualification for African nations to qualify for the World Rugby Cup Sevens, the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Series and the Olympics.

In 2017 Uganda and Zimbabwe qualified to take part in the World Rugby Cup Sevens and will join South Africa and Kenya as African participants in San Francisco to play for top honours between 20 and 23 July.

In total 24 nations will compete in the men’s competition while 16 women’s teams will take part. In the women’s tournament, there is only one African team taking part, namely South Africa.

Seven players play sevens Rugby on the field with five replacements in two halves lasting only seven minutes each. The Sevens format is characterised by its short duration and fast pace of the game.

The GRCC Sevens will also form the basis of selection of both a men’s and women’s national team, the Ghana Eagles.

Mensah said that although Ghana Rugby has to date not competed in international women’s tournaments, the situation will change from 2019.

“My administration and I have fully committed ourselves to the development of Women In Rugby in Ghana, and I am convinced that Ghana can become the top team in African women’s rugby in the foreseeable future,” he said.

Related: Ghana Rugby - AM Sports on JoyNews