Stanbic Black Pirates and Platinum Credit Heathens are the last two premiership champions in Uganda since 2021, were the playoffs finalists last season, and before the meeting, were still unbeaten. A mammoth contest was expected at the breezy Kings Park on Saturday evening.
But it was nowhere near the expected standard of a top-of-the-table clash and of the exciting meetings between these two giant clubs. The match was marred by dropped high balls under no pressure, misplaced passes and missed tackles, and a high penalty count.
Nkore kicked three penalties for Pirates but the visitors had the upper hand the first hour of the match. Silver Munguachel, Joseph Oyet and Aaron Ofoyrwoth scored the tries (only one converted by Ofoyrwoth) for them to lead Pirates by 17-09 at halftime. Then after the break, Claude Otema bagged a brace of tries converted by Ofoyrwoth to make it 31-09 with twenty minutes left to play.
In the final quarter, Heathens ceded momentum to the hosts and they made it count. Desire Ayera and Nathan Bwambale alternated in scoring braces with Nkore kicking three conversions to complete the comeback by 33-31 points.
In their post-match interviews with Kawowo Sports, both coaches, Pirates’ Marvin Odongo and Heathens’ Mohammed Athiyo, admitted that there was a significant element of luck in deciding the outcome of this crunch tie.
“It was a very bad game from us. Heathens must have scored four tries out of nothing, scoring against the run of play. When you let such things happen to you, we’re lucky to get out today with the win, I think. I’m not at all happy with our performance. By no means should the win gloss over our poor performance,” Odongo said.
“All we did was stick to our game structure. Fine, we were lucky that we capitalised on Pirates’ mistakes in the first half but equally, they capitalised on our mistakes in the second half. So, you could say it was a rugby game of two halves,” Athiyo summarised.
But (un)fortunately, only one team was relieved by the sound of referee Gonzaga Mayanja’s fulltime whistle. Pirates assumed top spot on the table while Heathens dropped to third place.
The comeback also marked the end of Heathens’ winning streak over Pirates since the 2023 season.
Full Round Five Results:
- Victoria Sharks 16-33 KCB KOBs
- Elgon Wolves 10-29 Jinja Hippos
- Stanbic Black Pirates 33-31 Platinum Credit Heathens
- Toyota Buffaloes 21-19 Kampani Eagles
- Walukuba Barbarians 47-30 Plascon Mongers
- Warriors 20-21 Rhinos
Both Pirates and Heathens have similarly tough ties in the next round. Pirates will visit KOBs at Legends and Heathens will face Hippos in Jinja.
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