Heathens win 2024 Nile Special Rugby Championship title
Platinum Credit Heathens won the 2024 Nile Special Rugby Championship after defeating Stanbic Black Pirates 15-13 in the Playoffs Final at Kyadondo Rugby Club. The post Heathens win 2024 Nile Special Rugby Championship title appeared first on Kawowo Sports.
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Platinum Credit Heathens have won the 2024 Nile Special Rugby (Men’s) Championship.
They beat Stanbic Black Pirates, 15-13, in the Playoffs Final at Kyadondo Rugby Club on Saturday evening.
There could not have been a more deserving champion. Heathens finished the regular season unbeaten and on top of the table; scoring the most tries and conceding the least of all teams on their way to the final.
They led on the scoreboard for nearly the entire match. Heathens trailed briefly after Pirates kicked the first points of the match in the seventh minute.
Heathens’ charge for the title was led by forwards. Emmanuel Byamugisha and Joaquim Chisano score their two tries in the first half. Malcolm Okello slotted a conversion and penalty for them to stay ahead.
However, Pirates gave them a run for their money and nearly pulled off a huge upset. Led by flyhalf Ivan Magomu who breached Heathens’ first line of defence three times in similar fashion, Pirates scored two tries through their wingers Roy Kizito and Jeremiah Okello in the second half.
The Sea Robbers may have fallen short by just two points but they got a round of applause from all fans present for playing in such an entertaining final.
Unfortunately, the match was not short of plot twists that nearly spoiled the spectacle. Three yellow cards were shown to Pirates’ Nathan Bwambale & Haruna Mohammed, and Heathens’ Simon Olet and the match was halted a couple of times after tensions between the players boiled over.
The 2024 title brings Heathens’ tally to seventeen since the men’s top-flight tournament was introduced in 1990. Heathens have also clinched the XVs double, having won the Uganda Cup earlier this year.
Local rugby now goes into the off-season break. It will resume after the mid-year international tests have been concluded with the National 7s Series.
The post Heathens win 2024 Nile Special Rugby Championship title appeared first on Kawowo Sports.
