Pirates launch title hunt with rare favourites tag
Pirates wing Denis Etuket tries to shrug off a challenge from Shell Rimula Rhinos center James Musiitwa (R) during a Nile Premiership rubber last season at Legends RFC. Pirates, winners of the Uganda Cup, start the league as favourites. PHOTO BY EDDIE CHICCO
What you need to know:
- Rugby. Senior player Etuket has watered down the talk of being title favourites as it comes with pressure that will affect the team’s youngsters.
If you sit down and try to recall the last time Buzz Pirates started the league campaign as title favourites, it will have to be the 2009 season.
Then they choked with two games left as they succumbed to defeat against eventual champions Hima Cement Heathens to finishing second. Eight years on today, the Sea Robbers are once again enjoying the plaudits of kicking off as favourites if recent developments are anything to go by.
Pirates’ Uganda Cup win, a first title in 10 years, has come with a new lease of life and rivals Betway Kobs, Rimula Rhinos and Heathens will want to silence the growing Pirates’ noise.
Pre-season talk
Pirates’ dynamic pair of Ivan Magomu and Musa Muwonge have told whoever has cared to listen to them that they will be league champions in March even when their coach Bobby Musinguzi thinks there is still more to work on.
“There is more work to be done with the team to get to the place we want,” Musinguzi told SCORE.
“We are still a work in progress but moving in the right direction.”
Dennis Etuket, a 17-year veteran at the club, feels the favourites tag might pile pressure on some of the younger lads in the side.
“That tag is not easy to deal with as some of the young players might fail to deal with it because it comes with pressure,” he said.
Since the league’s inception in 1991, only three sides in Kobs, Heathens and Impis have won it. While Impis have a sole win, the other two have dominated the last 26 years as Pirates’ best has always not been good enough.
Whether they can seize the moment or keep playing the bridesmaid role, the next 18 weeks will provide an answer.
The league is more demanding than a Cup tourney and Pirates cannot afford to get comfortable as experienced Kobs and Heathens know all the bends of a league campaign better than anyone else.
NILE RUGBY PREMIERSHIP B fixtures:
Hippos vs. Heathens
Jinja Dam Waters Ground, 5pm
Impis vs. Pirates
Makerere University Graveyard, 2:30pm
Rams vs. Kobs
Makerere University Graveyard, 4.30pm
Mongers vs. Buffaloes
Entebbe House of Pain Ground, 4.30pm
