Black Pearls continued to dictate matters women’s rugby in Uganda when they prevailed over Thunderbirds by 25-12 points in Round Five of the 2025 Uganda Women’s Rugby Premiership.
Before the meeting, the two were the only still-unbeaten teams in the seven-team premiership but Thunderbirds, yet to have their bye week, were top of the standings.
The contest under the scorching afternoon heat at Kings Park on Saturday was far below the expected standard of a top-of-the-table clash and of the memorable meetings between these two giant clubs. It was slow, unglamorous, and plagued by repeated stoppages from handling errors and medical breaks.
Both coaches, Kigongo Sebalamu of Thunderbirds and Helen Koyokoyo Buteme did not mince their words in describing how proceedings went.
“We did not play to our standards. If you look at this game, we left everything on the pitch. I mean, we did not play what we were supposed to play… we were boring, lacklustre, slow… we did not deserve to win,” Sebalamu said to Kawowo Sports.
“I think the girls are just a bit too casual. So I’m still quite not happy with how we are going about the structure we are supposed to follow,” Koyokoyo Buteme said.
Rather unsurprisingly, it was the home team who came out on top. Emilly Lekuru scored a hat trick and Bushira Namutebi & Rebecca Kabajungu touched down once. The visitors’ points were scored by Mary Kyoita (try and conversion) and Phyllies Apio (try).
Black Pearls got the bonus point for good measure to close the gap on Thunderbirds to just two (points difference). Black Pearls have won each of the last three premiership titles without losing a single match and it’s beginning to look like déjà vu.
But Koyokoyo Buteme chose to stay humble in her words following the big result.
“No. Sports is very funny. You can think you have it wrapped up and then the other teams come back with a bang. So we are definitely not going to sit back and relax. We are going to analyse this game, look at the mistakes we made and prepare for the teams going forward.”
Sebalamu believes there is still a chance of dethroning Black Pearls.
“The good chance we have in the women’s games, it is round-robin. You play me at my home, I also play you at your home. There is a chance. We’ve seen our mistakes, we’ll go and try to work on them. Probably, second round we’ll see what happens.”
The next round will see Black Pearls and Thunderbirds host premiership dark horses She Wolves and Nile Rapids respectively.
Full Round Five Results:
- Black Pearls 25-12 Thunderbirds
- She Wolves 10-10 Ewes
- Panthers 13-27 Avengers
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