Black Pirates’ Journey to the 2024 Rugby Championship Final

Stanbic Black Pirates will play in the 2024 Nile Special Rugby Men’s Championship final. They will face Platinum Credit Heathens at Kyadondo Rugby Club on Saturday evening.

Pirates are the underdogs. They were ranked third in the regular season and have not won at Kyadondo in two visits this season.

This is the timeline of their journey to the championship final; through the regular season and the championship playoffs.

Regular Season

Pirates played eleven matches (six home, five away) in the regular season. They won eight (with four bonus points), drew zero, and lost three (with two bonus points).

• Round One (February 3): Heathens 16-12 Pirates

The 2023 XVs league champions began their 2024 championship campaign with a defeat to rivals Heathens. They did not score a try in the match but collected their first losing bonus point.

• Round Two (February 10): Pirates 24-20 KOBs

Pirates ended an unprecedented two-match losing streak by defending home turf against rivals KOBs at Kings Park.

• Round Three (February 17): Pirates 42-13 Warriors

Pirates’ first bonus point victory of the regular season came against the recently-promoted Warriors.

• Round Four (February 24): Pirates 19-14 Hippos

In a match where tries were hard to come by, Pirates relied on their kicker Frederick Mulindwa to overcome a charged Hippos side. Mulindwa kicked four penalties to keep Pirates just ahead by full-time.

• Round Five (March 2): Mongers 20-17 Pirates

The following weekend when they instead chose to bulldoze their way to tries, Pirates were catastrophically unsuccessful as Mongers stunned them in Entebbe.

• Round Six (March 9): Pirates 46-10 Rams

This was Pirates’ biggest winning margin and most points scored in the season.

• Round Seven (March 16): Pirates 29-21 Walukuba

Despite struggling away from home, Pirates’ form at Kings Park kept them alive in the grand scheme of things. They held off Walukuba to register their fifth successive home victory.

• Round Eight (March 23): Buffaloes 11-00 Pirates

To set the alarms off about their form away from home, Pirates lost a third successive away match in the championship when they visited Buffaloes at Kyadondo. Buffaloes also kept them scoreless for the first time in the season.

• Round Nine (April 6): Rhinos 11-17 Pirates

Pirates returned from the Easter break with a solution to their woes away from home. Speedster Arnold Atukunda’s blistering effort won them their first away victory late in the regular season.

• Round Ten (April 13): Eagles 00-35 Pirates

This was Pirates’ only clean-sheet victory in the regular season. Crucially, they also got a bonus point and stayed ahead of the chasing pack in the mid-table.

• Round Eleven (April 20): Pirates 41-13 Impis

The bonus point victory over Impis sealed the #3 spot in the regular season’s final standings behind leaders Heathens and Hippos. They also concluded the regular season without dropping points at home.

Championship Playoffs

• Quarterfinals: Pirates 40-34 Rhinos

Rhinos pushed Pirates to the absolute limit in the quarterfinals. If the first round at Legends which ended 10-07 was nail-biting, then the second round at Kings Park was more than mind-blowing.

• Semifinals: Pirates 54-51 Hippos

Pirates’ stalwarts returning from national 7s duty inspired them to an emphatic victory over Hippos. They had lost the first round at Damwaters by 28-27 but won the second round at home by 27-23 to upset the Jinja side and progress to the final.

Winning the Championship Final means that Black Pirates will have successfully retained their top-flight XVs title.

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