KOBs head coach, Brain Makalama, was about to get a horror weekend in before his Budo side salvaged a last-minute penalty to get a hard-fought win over Namilyango College.
Namilyango are the reigning East African Schools rugby champions and were on course to win the Fresh Dairy Secondary Schools Games hosted by Ntare School.
Two high stake games in quick succession
Earlier on Saturday, Makalama’s KOBs side had convincingly lost the NSPRL title to the Stanbic Black Pirates in the closing game of the season at Legends Rugby Grounds.
The former National team tighthead prop and coach was able to make the commute between Mbarara and Kampala through the weekend to attend to both teams.
Despite the distance being made longer with the closure of the Kampala-Masaka highway due to flooding of River Katonga, Makalama was not deterred.
His commitment paid off when Budo winger – John Mark scored the crucial penalty in the final play to give the Red Lions a 23-21 victory against the Anchors.
Had Budo lost, this would have been the second time this year that both Makalama-coached sides lose over the same weekend after the catastrophic one where KOBs controversially lost to Heathens and Budo fell to Hana in the schools league semifinal.
The Story of MACOS in Mbarara
Despite not making it to the finals, MACOS impressed the most out of all the teams. They had a shaky start with a hardly sought win against the Western rugby giants Ntare school.
MACOS went into the semifinal with Budo as underdogs but forced the game into extra time after it had ended in a stalemate of 13-13.
Budo won the game with a penalty to make it to the finals. MACOS would go on to play SMACK in the third-place playoff.
Previously the Entebbe side would have a smooth sail over this fixture, but it was never the case this time. The full-time score was 17-17, which SMACK was finally able to edge in extra time.
Namilyango deploying Budo tactics
On the other hand, Namilyango played their arch-nemesis SMACK in the other semifinal which saw the former win by 19-13.
Namilyango was seen to deploy a tactic, rather often used by Budo, in which they held onto possession as much as possible, with very limited kicks in open play, denying the opposition any attacking opportunities.
Budo almost edged Hana in the Central Schools semifinal this year with the same tactic but fell short due to the kicking boot of Hana’s Malcom Okello.
They however were relentless with this tactic and carried it forward to the Nationals, getting a win against SMACK in the group stage game.
It is worthy noting that this contest had been slated to be the opening game for the competition, but was postponed due to the poor state of the Ntare school pitch.
The Red Lions nick the final at the death
With both sides playing a similar brand of rugby (possession-based, and majorly relying on forwards to carry the ball forward), we were treated to a nail-biting final which lived up to expectations.
Namilyango deployed an aggressive line speed in defence, which backfired and consequently conceded several offside penalties.
They went on to get two yellow cards in the last minutes with Budo being awarded two kickable penalties, of which they opted for lineout with the first, from which they were able to get a more kickable penalty at the Namilyango 22m line and slotted in easily for the win.
All teams struggled with numbers during the course of the tournament mainly due to injuries and screening out of some players.
Previously, only over-age players were weeded out, but this time even the underage players were not spared.
Girls’ Category
In the girls’ rugby, Nkoma SS edged Entebbe Air Force to claim gold in an emphatic 12-05 win.
The Mbale-based school played very structurally organised rugby and with a mercurial performance from their skipper, Mariam Gamisha, who went on to be awarded as the tournament MVP.
RUGBY 15s RANKING
GIRLS
- Nkoma SS
- Entebbe Air Force
- St. Katherine SS
- St. Jude SS
- Kijjabwemi SS
MVP: Mariam Gamisha – (Nkoma SS)
BOYS
- King’s College Budo
- Namilyango College
- SMACK
- MACOS
- Ntare Sch
- Kiira Colleege Butiki
- St. Jude SS
- Mbarara High School
- Katatumba Academy
- Kijjabwemi SS
MVP: Job Owembabazi – (Namilyango)
By: Emmanuel Sama
Courtesy photos
