Buffaloes do double over Heathens in Rugby League

Line out: Toyota Buffaloes lock Simon Olet (top left) contests with Hima Cement Heathens’ Aziz Khan on Friday. PHOTO BY EDDIE CHICCO

What you need to know:

  • "At the beginning of the season we set out goals and one of them was to beat Heathens , which we have achieved,” charles uhuru, buffaloes captain

KAMPALA. Before any rugby ball was tossed around for this Nile Special Rugby Premiership season, one major statistic had troubled Buffaloes and their fans for ages. It had nothing to do with silverware.
In the 27-year-old national league, Toyota Buffaloes had never managed even a single victory over their rivals Hima Cement Heathens in the Kyadondo derby.

Heathens also remained the only side to deny their once feeder side a win until earlier in the season when Buffaloes stood tall 17-13 only to repeat the trick on Friday evening at Kyadondo with even a slightly bigger margin in a 23-18 bruising encounter.

“At the beginning of the season we set out goals and one of them was to beat Heathens , which we have achieved, “ Buffaloes captain Charles Uhuru told Sunday Monitor. “Kyadondo is now ours,” he added.

For Buffaloes, It was victory of all sorts after being bullied Line out: Toyota Buffaloes lock Simon Olet (top left) contests with Hima Cement Heathens’ Aziz Khan on Friday. PHOTO BY EDDIE CHICCOby Heathens in their own backyard for all these years. It felt like they had won a title by piling more misery on Heathens in a season they have already lost five times now. The victory takes Buffaloes to 31 points, six within Heathens as Plascon Mongers lies between the Kyadondo sides in fourth and sixth with seven match days left to the end of the campaign.

It was also a special day for Buffaloes’ Norman Luwum who came on as a second half substitute on a day his grandfather, the late Archbishop Janani Luwum was being celebrated for his courage that led to his martydom in 1977 for criticising the tyrant Idi Amin Dada.