{"id":72157,"date":"2024-04-27T17:06:15","date_gmt":"2024-04-27T17:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=72157"},"modified":"2024-04-27T17:01:42","modified_gmt":"2024-04-27T17:01:42","slug":"heathens-raring-to-go-pirates-buoyant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/heathens-raring-to-go-pirates-buoyant","title":{"rendered":"Heathens raring to go, Pirates buoyant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>One notable positive from the new format of the Nile Special Rugby Championships is its unpredictability, which kept the fans on the edge of their seats until the final day of the regular season.<\/b><\/p>\n

More drama is expected into the playoffs especially after a section of club chairmen protested in their shared WhatsApp group with the Union (URU) over the decision to hand the quarter final second-leg home advantage to the bottom four of the eight.<\/p>\n

The Uganda Rugby Union reacted with an impulsive response withdrawing the earlier fixtures and drawing a new one to meet the demands. The Kobs-Mongers game that was initially scheduled for Friday was pushed to Saturday in Entebbe.<\/p>\n

More surprises are expected as the playoffs offer a clean slate for any of the remaining eight teams to dream big.<\/p>\n

Outright favourites<\/b><\/p>\n

While the big three \u2013 Heathens, Kobs, and Pirates \u2013 remain outright favorites, they will keep an eye on Jinja Hippos who disrupted their status quo to break into the top three.<\/p>\n

All the four beat their quarterfinal opponents in the regular season.<\/p>\n

The Hippos, who finished second, were also the only side that matched Heathens\u2019 near-perfect machine on the pitch. Hippos play Buffaloes.<\/p>\n

The sixteen-time champions (Heathens) were invincible in the first phase but are wary of the challenge ahead.<\/p>\n

They travel to Jinja to face the Walukuba Barbarians who were arguably the most-exciting team to watch.<\/p>\n

Heathens captain Michael Wokorach has fresh memories of their narrow escape at Walukuba on March 9 where their other Michael, Omollo\u2019s last-minute try came to the rescue in the 21-17 win.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe almost lost to Walukuba but that was a good wake-up call to remind us not to underestimate anyone and finish our chances early,\u201d Wokorach said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve played well so far but this is a knockout where you have to bring your A-game,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Pirates strong<\/b><\/p>\n

Speaking of A-game, the defending champions Black Pirates were not near it, finishing third and just three points ahead of Mongers in fifth.<\/p>\n

Their playmaker Ivan Magomu acknowledges their shortfalls but is confident the team will rise to the occasion when they face Rhinos.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made a few mistakes that made it harder than it should\u2019ve been but Playoff rugby is our sort of thing which we know how to handle and we\u2019ll adjust accordingly,\u201d Magomu said.<\/p>\n

Nile Special Rugby Championship <\/b>
\nQuarterfinal first leg fixtures \u2013 Saturday at 4pm <\/b><\/p>\n

Mongers vs. Kobs – Entebbe<\/p>\n

Walukuba vs. Heathens \u2013 Jinja<\/p>\n

Buffaloes vs. Hippos \u2013 Kyadondo<\/p>\n

Rhinos vs. Black Pirates \u2013 Legends<\/p>\n

How the pairs fared in the regular season<\/b><\/p>\n

April 6: Mongers 16-21 Kobs<\/p>\n

March 9: Walukuba 17-21 Heathens<\/p>\n

March 16: Hippos 20-16 Buffaloes<\/p>\n

April 6: Rhinos 11-17 Black Pirates<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. One notable positive from the new format of the Nile Special Rugby Championships is its unpredictability, which kept the fans on the edge of their seats until the final day of the regular season. More drama is expected into the playoffs especially after a section of club chairmen protested in their shared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":72156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-72157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nHeathens raring to go, Pirates buoyant - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One notable positive from the new format of the Nile Special Rugby Championships is its unpredictability, which kept ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/heathens-raring-to-go-pirates-buoyant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Heathens raring to go, Pirates buoyant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One notable positive from the new format of the Nile Special Rugby Championships is its unpredictability, which kept ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/heathens-raring-to-go-pirates-buoyant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-27T17:06:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2024\/04\/sm_1714224563.99079.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/heathens-raring-to-go-pirates-buoyant#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/heathens-raring-to-go-pirates-buoyant\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Heathens raring to go, Pirates buoyant\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-27T17:06:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/heathens-raring-to-go-pirates-buoyant\"},\"wordCount\":462,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/heathens-raring-to-go-pirates-buoyant#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2024\/04\/sm_1714224563.99079.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/heathens-raring-to-go-pirates-buoyant#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/heathens-raring-to-go-pirates-buoyant\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/heathens-raring-to-go-pirates-buoyant\",\"name\":\"Heathens raring to go, Pirates buoyant - 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