The Stanbic Black Pirates just showed what a good 15s rugby team they are currently, following their triumph in the Uganda Cup final over the weekend.
The Pirates’ 19-8 victory over the Platinum Credit Heathens in the final that was played at Namboole stadium, saw them complete a league and cup double. This victory over the Heathens was the fourth successive victory for Pirates over their arch-rivals this year in 15s rugby.
It is not usual that the most successful team in Uganda’s rugby history, the Heathens, lose four times in a row to a given team. They do not just boast of pedigree and a proud history. Heathens have normally shown resolve to outlast most of their opponents.
It is against that background that they are 17-time record champions. Yet, now, a team (Pirates) that has three league championships, three Uganda Cups, and two Sevens national championships have dominated them. Could this be a precursor to a longer stay at the top for the Pirates?
William Nkore, the club’s number 10, hopes that is the case. If anything, it is the idea anyway, something well documented by the circumstances under which he played the final. While going through his physiotherapy on Tuesday, December 9, Nkore said even if it meant playing Heathens with one eye, he had told his teammates during the build-up to the final, he would do it.
That is why, it is days after limping through the final, that Nkore chose to get extended medical attention on his kicking right leg, whose front thigh was actually the injured one. It is an injury he picked up as a result of overly kicking the ball. But even with the pain he was feeling in his leg, it did not matter at the time.
Such undying spirit saw Nkore also pick up the Man-of-the- Match award for the final. It was a result of the 14 points: four penalties and a conversion that he put on the board for his team. That was testament to what it all meant and the aspirations of Nkore as one of the cogs in this Pirates team. Pirates started in 1998, yet for much of their 27 years, they have been in the shadow of Kobs and Heathens; carrying the tag of nearly men. But that is a trend that they are determined to change.
Therefore, even as they celebrate their league and cup double, their coach, Marvin Odongo will not get carried away. The one message he has maintained since he first guided this team to league and sevens success in 2023, is to build consistency.
“I do not want us to be one-time wonders,” Odongo said back in 2024, before the beginning of their 2023 league title defence.
He went on to say that Heathens and Kobs had been the two top dogs in Ugandan rugby for so long. And, therefore, it was time for there to be a power-shift, coming in the form of Pirates.
Incidentally, in 2024, Pirates, despite being competitive, they did not win anything. Heathens went on to beat them to all three trophies: The League, Sevens and the Cup. By and large, it had been fine margins for Pirates, the manner in which they lost on all three fronts.
Heathens had shown that they wanted those trophies more and put in a more worthwhile shift to earn them. According to Isaac Massanganzira, the Pirates captain, it was very disappointing.
But at the same time, it was a wake-up call. During a pre-match interview on match-day one of the 2025 Nile Special Premiership League game against the Walukuba Barbarians at the King’s Park Arena, Massanganzira noted that, as a team, they did not apply themselves well enough in 2024.
One thing he could not rule out was the fact that complacency came in after they had won in 2023. But Massanganzira noted that great sides dominate. They cannot be a flash in the pan. A case in point, between 2009 and 2015, Heathens won six league titles, while between 1997 and 2001, Kobs won five in a row.
Pirates will be aiming to follow that script. Mohammad Athiyo, the former Heathens coach would not be surprised to see Pirates dominate for the next three to four years.
He said: “They have a young team that is in its peak years. But even more importantly, they have leaders across the team, and their team structure is well balanced. They have a good pack and even their backs provide a big threat.”
It was rather evident how Pirates dominated Heathens in the pack. Yet, Heathens did not seem to adjust that for a different approach. En route to winning the Uganda Cup final, Pirates also beat the Kobs in the semi-final 24-23, which surely is a pointer to how tough their road to success was.
Frank Kidega, the club’s vice- captain, said during their trophy parade celebrations that from his point of view, he had to give everything to win it because it was the one trophy missing from his cabinet. Kidega was part of the Pirates team that won the league in 2023, too. But he had not joined the club in 2007 and 2017 when they had last won the Uganda Cup.
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