Rugby title decider!

The 33rd Uganda Rugby Union (URU) top-flight men’s league season winds up this weekend, Saturday, May 13.

Not only has the championship dubbed: Nile Special Rugby Premier League been gripping and exciting, its final weekend is going to see the top two teams on the log, Kobs and the Stanbic Pirates go head-on in a winner takes it all clash. 

It will be match-day 18 across the league, and the two giant sides will face off at Legends ground locked at 75 points apiece. A draw will be enough for Kobs, to win their 15th championship because they have a much bigger difference between the scores they have accrued and those they have conceded from those of Pirates. Kobs are on 523 against Pirates’ 335.

However, the fact that the season-end conversation is about Kobs-Pirates, and not Heathens, who won all their 18 games in 2022 en route to a 16th record championship, is intriguing. Heathens are third on the log with 72 points. 

Mathematically, they are in a position where one would think they can still win this year’s championship. This is because they are expected to beat already relegated Rams this weekend by a bonus point, which would place them at 77 points. And in case the Kobs-Pirates game ended in a draw, all three teams would be equal on points. 

But the problem for Heathens is that they lost to Pirates both home and away this season. That has left Heathens handicapped by a lesser head-to-head compared to Pirates. In fact, it is that standpoint, which has proved the improvement of Pirates this time round. 

For long, Pirates have been branded perennial bridesmaids, failing to win, after raising expectations. The last time they had beaten Heathens twice in the league in the same season is back in 2018. Then, they won the league. The believers in superstition suggest it is going to be the case this time, too.

Yet, Pirates hooker, Nathan Bwambale, who was part of the successful 2018 team views things through a totally different prism.

“Our success this weekend is not going to depend on what we did in 2018. But what we do on the day, as we have done throughout the season. We have become more formidable at each passing game,” Bwambale said.

Squad depth has been a key aspect to Pirates’ success thus far. Unlike recent seasons when Pirates struggled to have a squad of 40 available to call on because of work commitments, school, and relocation that took their players, this time they have had the numbers.

Previously, the absence of Desire Ayera, Alex Aturinda, William Nkore, Isaac Massanganzira, Mubarak Wandera, Kelvin Balagadde, and Timothy Kisiga because of national sevens team duties derailed Pirates. But this time, the coming of age of youngsters like Moses Zziwa, Sidney Gongodyo, Moses Olweny, Umar Duff, Humphrey Tashobya, and Arnold Atukunda among others have plugged the holes effectively.

In a recent interview with coach Marvin Odongo, who was Pirates captain when they won in 2018, said that a number of the aforementioned players have been with the team for the last three years, hence developing more steel and resolve, to support the seniors.

This has coincided with the fact that Heathens have also struggled with injuries and suspension of key players this season. For example, Romano Ucu has been injured all season, following an instrumental season, last year. Syrus Wathum and Charles Uhuru have been serving bans while Komakech Akera, Joachim Chisano, Joseph Oyet, Paul Epilo and Innocent Gwokto have been in and out of the team due to fitness issues. 

Captain Michael Wokorach, Aaron Ofoyrwoth, and Nobert Okeny have been with the national Sevens side for two months, which makes them ineligible for club duty. Anyway, even Kobs’ Ian Munyani and Adrian Kasito have been away for that time, yet the Blue Army have remained unfazed as the case was in the 2022 league.

Kobs prop Collin Kimbowa said that there was more determination this time, following last year’s embarrassing third-place finish.

“We lost twice to Heathens and to Pirates. We were destructed by the departure of Betway as our sponsor. This time, on top of better fitness across the squad, we were focused more on the pride of Kobs than how much we were paid,” Kimbowa said.     

A similar attitude is what Kobs will carry into the game against Pirates, whom they beat 30-25 in the first round. Kobs should draw inspiration from the final day of the 2021 league, when they beat Pirates 15-5, to win the championship. But Legends used to be Pirates’ home, too, and in March 2019, they walked onto that ground as visitors, only to stop Kobs from winning the championship, when they run out 40-18 winners!

jovi@observer.ug