Rugby Cranes mull over tactical changes 

The Rugby Cranes head coach, Fred Mudoola said his team’s 20-22 loss to Zimbabwe on Saturday, July 20 at Namboole stadium during the quarter-finals of the Rugby Africa Cup was his fault!

Mudoola is from the school of thought that players win games, while coaches lose them. How accurate Mudoola’s view is, and whether it was simply made in the heat of the moment, will be debated. As it were, there were big expectations going into Africa’s biggest rugby tournament, that Uganda were hosting for the first time.

So, not to make the semifinals at the Muteesa II stadium in Wankulukuku, felt like total failure even though Uganda’s 2027 Rugby World Cup dreams are not dead yet. Following the poor first half against Zimbabwe, Mudoola and his support technical staff may have to wring changes, beginning with the game against Burkina Faso today at Wankulukuku.

According to Mudoola, the focus is on the two placement games they have to play.

“We must win them both so that we finish fifth like we did in 2022. Yet, to do that, we must play better than we did in the first half against Zimbabwe,” Mudoola said.

The introduction of Joseph Aredo and Alex Aturinda lifted the team in the second half, which suggests changes going forward, especially when one considers how defensively poor they were in the first half against Zimbabwe. From the tackling, to movement off the ball, to close down spaces, the set-pieces, Uganda was off.

The expected rush defense to slow Zimbabwe’s flow was also non-existent, which inevitably also resulted in not being effective in the breakdowns, particularly in the racks. That was glaringly evident in prop Asuman Mugerwa’s chance to get Uganda a match-winning try in the second half that Uganda was on top of.

He went down with the ball, as he waited for someone to come and secure the rack. The referee’s whistle caught him in the desperate act of getting the ball over the line, which was adjudged as an illegal double movement. This got Zimbabwe off the hook. But even earlier provided Zimbabwe the freedom to move the ball around so easily and quickly, leading to overloads on one end, creating gaps through which they peeled away to touch down their three tries.

Much of the aforementioned was mitigated in the second half, which is exactly what Uganda will need to showcase in the two games to come for a respectable finishing position. That will guarantee Uganda a slot in next year’s World Cup qualifiers. But at the same time, Mudoola believes that the game against Zimbabwe taught them a lesson.

While his target was to make the semifinals, to face Namibia (nine-time Africa champions) ranked number 23 in the world. Namibia were at the World Cup last year in France. Mudoola feels that would have been an invaluable experience for his charges. Had man-of-the-match Phillip Wokorach not missed a penalty, then maybe Uganda would have celebrated a 23-22 win.

However, the fact that Uganda kept Zimbabwe at bay for most of the second half, limiting the visitors’ presence in their twenty-two area, was impressive, and a positive to build on. It was a show of character and fight. In fact, apart from the penalty Zimbabwe missed in the second half through their fly-half Ian Prior, they did not realistically come close.

Now focus is on Burkina Faso, ranked number 92. While Burkina Faso lost 5-38 to Namibia, it was a tremendous improvement from their previous meeting with the Southern African two years ago, which they lost 5-71. Uganda can least take them for granted with what is at stake.