Rhino Rugby Extends Sponsorship of the Guinness PRO12
John Feehan, Chief Executive of Guinness PRO12 with Andrew Moss, Chairman of Rhino Rugby at today’s announcement in London
John Feehan, Chief Executive of PRO12 Rugby, today announced that Rhino Rugby would be continuing its’ sponsorship of the Guinness PRO12 by both supplying the official match ball and officials’ apparel and by extending its’ sponsorship of the Rhino Golden Boot Award for another four years to 2019.
Speaking at the announcement today in London, John Feehan said
‘The Guinness PRO12 continues to go from strength to strength both on & off the pitch. We have year on year growth in attendances, TV audiences and digital media. We are delighted that Rhino Rugby have renewed their valued sponsorship of the Guinness PRO12 by supplying the renowned Rhino Vortex Elite match ball and the full kit for our match officials. In addition, the Rhino Golden Boot Award is well recognised as the ultimate acknowledgement and reward for accurate & consistent place kicking with, this season, the Ospreys’ Dan Biggar having an exceptional year with his boot and the Rhino Vortex Elite match ball ! ‘
Commenting on the sponsorship renewal, Andrew Moss, Chairman of Rhino Rugby said
‘Rhino is delighted be renewing its sponsorship of the Guinness PRO12. We look forward to continuing to supply the Rhino Vortex Elite match ball and the referees and pitchside officials’ teamwear and apparel for another four years. The company sees this deal as a cornerstone of its strategy in the rugby ball market and as a rugby brand generally. The competition continues to make great strides and with a strong sponsor like Guinness and the games now going out also on SKY Sports it can only go from strength to strength. Rhino is proud of its association with it.’
The Rhino Golden Boot Award has in recent seasons been won by Jonathan Sexton and Ian Madigan of Leinster and JJ Hanrahan of Munster. Sexton achieved a remarkable 90% success rate in the 2011-12 competition, and this year Dan Biggar of the Ospreys current leads the table with a remarkable 42 successful kicks out of 45. In fact, Dan Biggar’s 93.3% success rate is the best seasonal kicking rate there’s ever been for a regular kicker in any major professional league.
“We believe that such statistics prove our Vortex Elite match ball to be as good as any in the world and that we have established that no company has any technological advantage in this product area – it’s now an open market which we intend to continue to contest vigorously going ahead’, said Reg Clark, CEO of Rhino Rugby.