Implement Group Left Code in BIPublisher RTF format.

I'm hoping for some help implementing a group left feature in an RTF template for a BIPublisher report.
I've looked at a few articles including this one: http://www.oracle.com/webfolder/technetwork/tutorials/obe/fmw/bi/bip/tb4word/tbwordbip.htm.
But in that example the built in template is used, which seems to connect to the built in layout editor.

I have a table with similar structure to what is below.

Name                      Other Info
North                              Lions
North                             Vikings
North                               Bears
West                                Chargers
West                                 Broncos

I'm assuming there is a built-in command that will check if the current Name value is the same as the preceding Name value. If current and preceding are same, the cells will be merged.  And the name value will only display once.