Kobs date Heathens in the Uganda Cup

Nile Special Uganda Cup Results

Kobs 16 Pirate 13

Heathens 32 Hippos 23

Eagles 9 Mongers 22

Impis 11 Rams 19

Semi-final Fixtures

Heathens v Kobs

Mongers v Rams 

The KCB Kobs had a sweat revenge on Saturday when they edged the Stanbic Black Pirates 16-13 in the quarterfinals of the Nile Special Rugby Uganda Cup at Legends Rugby Ground. 

The exciting and tightly contested quarterfinal match set another bruising semifinal fixture for the 2021 Cup winners, who now face defending champions Platinum Credit Heathens that saw off Jinja Hippos 32-24 in Makerere.

Lawrence Sebuliba, Santos Ssenteza Malcom Okello, and Shadon Bongomin managed tries for the Heathens while Brighton Bakasa and Andrew Odhiambo had tries for the Hippos. 

It is an opportunity for Kobs to avenge last year’s painful loss to Heathens in the semifinal by a toss of a coin after 16-16 level in the playtime. 

Back to the quarterfinal games, Josaih Sempeke's last play time try and conversion ended the Pirates' hopes of winning their third Uganda Cup trophy. 

Leading 13-9, with the Bweyogerere fans singing songs of praise for the sea robbers, Sempeke intercepted Ivan Magomu's kick, set the ball once, and sprinted to the try line.

He then converted again sending the Kobs fans into wild celebrations as the referee blew the final whistle for Kobs to emerge 16-13 winners. 

Kobs coach Brian Makalama was excited after the 16-13 defeat of league champions the Black Pirates and cited the areas he will polish on ahead of the semifinal date to be announced later. 

“We are going to sharpen on our set pieces, work on the attitude of a few players, and give a better performance than today,” Makalama noted.  

Rugby Bongomin Jordan

 
Pirates coach Marvin Odongo described the defeat as luck to the opponents and also congratulated them. 

“They had luck. That ball would either have gone out or gone in any other side, but it went in the opponent’s direction and that is the game. We now focus on the league coming in two weeks,” Odongo said. 

The semifinal will be between Lifeguard Rams taking on Plascon Mongers.

Rams nicknamed the tenants beat their landlords Impis 19-11 while Mongers saw off the Kitante Eagles 22-9.