Ugandan rugby needs to widen its player base

What you need to know:

  • LACK OF INTEREST. A strength and conditioning blueprint that Dr. Leonard Were proffered never got the blessing from Uganda Rugby Union despite World Rugby’s interest to bankroll it.

There maybe an innocence in the giggles, but purpose courses through the player with ball in hand as he cuts loose. An injury break in the third placement Uganda Cup match between Betway Kobs and Toyota Buffaloes has given the ball boys a chance to have a kick about at Legends Club.

But just when it looks like the player with ball in hand is going to come through unscathed and, with any luck, his reputation enhanced amongst his peers, one of his opponents completes a tackle that provides a sobering jolt.

The tackle attracts muted applause from former national hooker Alex Mubiru who himself is not stranger to stopping opponents in their tracks. Lawrence Ssebuliba and Phillip Wokorach both greet the tackle with dark smiles.

Wokorach, dark, leggy, and unassuming, could be forgiven for seeing a part of himself in the recipient of the tackle and indeed the other impressionable ball boys.

Before conjuring up a burgeoning rugby career replete with absurdities (twice fracturing his leg) and brilliances (take a pick from the showreel of chip and chase tries), Wokorach lodged a few years as a ball boy, doing pretty much everything that the Nago boys (as the unprivileged lads hailing from Naguru godown refer to themselves) do at the rugby clubs of Kyadondo and Legends. This after tag rugby taught him the ropes of the sport.

Tag rugby graduates such as Wokorach have made a vital impression on Ugandan rugby by ensuring that its graph gets back on an upward curve. They have quite a domineering presence in both the men’s 15s and sevens national teams. Relying on them and the dwindling pool of Kampala-based players nevertheless tears the lid off a Pandora’s box and releases nothing but trouble.

No less problematic for Ugandan rugby is its failure -- refusal even -- to tap talent in places other than the capital. The emergence this year of Byron Oketayot has pointed to rugby outposts such a his home district of Gulu teeming with raw talent. The custodians of the sport ought to do a better job to ensure that rugby is alive and well in places such as Gulu and Mbale to mention but two.

Uganda’s decent showing at the Dubai Sevens has renewed calls for World Rugby to commission a second tier for the shorter version of the sport.

While this will undoubtedly boost rugby, one cannot help but wonder if Uganda is equipped with the tools to deal with the demands of such an endeavour.

The player base has to be expanded not just because of the clamour for a second tier of global sevens rugby as much as the fact that Rugby Afrique has swelled its flagship showpiece. Uganda will play no less than half a dozen 15s Test matches in next year’s Rugby Afrique Tier 1A Cup. This will need more bodies and money as well.

On another, if no less economically devastating, note, the volatility of Uganda’s performances at the Dubai Sevens highlighted the need to invest heavily in strength and conditioning (S&C) programmes.

This column understands that a S&C blueprint that Dr. Leonard Were proffered never got the blessing from Uganda Rugby Union despite World Rugby’s interest to bankroll it. The Union apparently said S&C is not a priority.

Performances in Dubai, however encouraging, suggest otherwise.

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Will a back three stand KCCA FC in good stead?

After signing wingers Brian Majwega and Vincent Kayizzi in the offseason, defending Uganda Premier League champions KCCA FC were not expected to play with narrowness. Mike Mutebi has, however, opted to deploy a back three that allows him to pack the centre with very little width.

Stuttering performances by Majwega and Kayizzi are partly responsible for the switch to a 3-5-2 system that the club last used as far back as 1997.

For the most part, though, Mutebi has made the switch because it makes sense. Playing an extra midfielder allows KCCA FC to press higher up the pitch with greater urgency. Mutebi also hopes that having an extra man in midfield will help him dominate possession. This, he further believes, will contribute to sustained spells of pressure under which opponents will crack.

The system is purposeful if not because it retains a number of bodies in the centre then the attacking width provided by wing backs like Joseph Ochaya. Mutebi believes the wing backs can excel where Majwega and Kayizzi failed.

There is of course growing concern over the system being a tad too narrow when KCCA FC comes up against a side with good wide players like SC Villa. Then there is also the small matter of a 3-5-2 system being susceptible to a counterattack from an outfit playing functional football. Of which there are many of them in the Uganda Premier League.

In the main, though, the attacking intent that the 3-5-2 system abounds with should see KCCA FC score goals in bucketloads. No team in the topflight has scored more goals (27 in 14) than the Kasasiro Boys.

A system that provides game time for Geoffrey Sserunkuma and Derrick Nsibambi in central positions should have a lot of purchase in the goal scoring stakes.

The fitful form of Majwega and Kayizzi has given Mutebi good reason to distrust conventional wingers. But Majwega particularly could yet have a role to play in the 3-5-2 system.

The winger has been used intermittently as a stopgap left back by Cranes coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic.

While those displays in the national strip were at best shaky, Majwega did show an adaptability about his game. The problem for him is that he will be jostling for the left wing back slot with Ochaya. There can only be one winner in that duel.