They bleed!!
Last weekend, the KCB KOBs defeated the Platinum Credit Heathens 18-13 at Kyadondo rugby grounds to give the latter their first loss of the year.
With the win, KOBs ended a 10-year wait for a win at Kyadondo, with the last one coming on 8th February 2014, a 14-13 win. Again, they held the Heathens to just 13 points.
After Calvin Gizamba (KOBs) and Daniel Malcolm Okello (Heathens) exchanged penalties, Malcolm scored a try in the corner and converted it to give the Heathens a 10-06 lead at halftime. He would add another to start the second half and give Heathens a 13-06 cushion.
For the second week in a row, KOBs made the switch for Adrian Kasito to go to scrumhalf and the ball started moving a lot faster for the Heathens to keep up.
Offside penalties kept accumulating and Calvin Gizamba was collecting the points like Thanos and infinity stones, scoring four penalties to give KOBs the eventual 18-13 win. It was a one-of-a-kind game with two former Uganda U20 captains entirely dominating the scoreboard for their teams.
With the KOBs’ win and Heathens’ loss, the latter advanced to the final on 42-36 aggregate but no one team can win the Championship unbeaten.
Stanbic Black Pirates Survive Second-Half Scare to Reach Final
Defending Champions, Stanbic Black Pirates, are sailing to the finale in Namboole after surviving another second-half fightback from their resilient visitors, the Jinja Hippos, winning 27-23 at Kings Park Arena.
The Pirates wrestled back a one-point deficit to win 27-23, advanced to the final, and avoided losing back-to-back league games since the 2016-2017 calendar.
Winger Timothy Odongo started the booty collection for the Pirates with a try before Elvis Opira gave the Hippos their first points with a penalty.
Returning Isaac Massa would later capitalize on a John Echeru error, to score the Pirates’ second try before Ivan Magomu and Opira exchanged penalties to send the Pirates leading 16-06 at the break.
Magomu kicked two quick penalties for the Pirates early in the second half to push the home side’s advantage to 22-06 before league top scorer, Andrew Odhiambo got one try back for the Hippos, putting the game at 22-11.
Paul Bagota got the Pirates’ big cushion back but that was not for long as Odhiambo was back with another try. Paul Siringiti also scored one for the Hippos and Opira’s conversion reduced the game to four points.
There was drama late on when Elvis Opira missed a penalty, and the referee called for a retake after a Pirates player attempted to charge the penalty down. Opira missed the retake, handing Pirates a 27-23 win, and a 54-51 aggregate win to advance to the final.
Courtesy Photos
