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Black Pirates claimed the opening circuit of the 2022 National Sevens Series on Sunday at King’s Park Arena, Bweyogerere in Wakiso District.

The Sea Robbers beat beat Makerere Impis 15-00 in Wakiso Sevens main cup final.

A pair of tries from Sydney Gongodio and another from speedster Arnold Atukunda helped the hosts sail to glory in the season opener.

Pirates won all their matches (bar the quarterfinal) as they seek to reclaim the title having finished as runners-up to Kobs last season.

After sailing through the group stage on Saturday, Pirates were matched against Heathens in the main cup quarterfinals.

At full time, the two sides were tied 05-05 and the score was unchanged after extra time. Pirates went through by virtue of points difference and at this stage.

In the semifinals, Pirates who were fully backed by the home crowd job the job done with a 14-10 triumph over resilient Buffaloes and walked past Impis in the finals.

Meanwhile, to make it to the main cup finals, Impis beat fellow Makerere University-based side Rams who finished 3rd 17-12.

Buffaloes star Aaron Tukei was named circuit MVP.

Pirates are top of the standings with 22 points, second-placed Impis have 19, and Rams who completed the opening circuit podium have 17.

The Series head to Entebbe this weekend. The draws for the event were held on Sunday after the conclusion of the opening circuit.

Five more legs will be played starting with Arua, Kings Park, Fort Portal, Jinja, and Kyadondo will host the other circuit.

The 2022 National Rugby Sevens Series will kickoff this weekend and the first circuit is set to be hosted at King’s Park.

Wakiso 7s which is the first of seven circuits replaced the Mileke 7swhich was cancelled due to the unavailability of Legends Rugby Ground.

Robert Bwali, the Tournament Director, says up-country circuits will be played on one day (Saturdays) while in central region events will be played over two days (Saturday and Sunday).

“In one-day events, we shall have 12 teams, that is 10 core teams and two invitational teams while in two-day events we shall have 16 teams where six invitational teams will join the 10 core sides,” Bwali said during the presser at King’s Park.

After the Wakiso 7s, the series will head to Entebbe the following weekend. The second leg had earlier been scheduled to be hosted in in the Eastern city of Mbale but with the district declared a disaster area by the government following floods that hit the area recently, the circuit was moved to Entebbe.

The series will take a break after Entebbe and then head to the West Nile city of Arua, then back to King’s Park, Fort Portal, Jinja, and Kyadondo will host the last circuit.

Uganda’s Sevens side finished 10th in the Men’s Rugby 7s tournament at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.

The Rugby Cranes lost to England 31-17 in the 9th place playoff game at Coventry Stadium.

Aaron Ofoyrwoth, Timothy Kisiga, and Karim Arinaitwe scored a try each with Philip Wokorach converting once.

Jamie Anderson score a hat-trick while Tomy Emery and Tom Bowen added a try each for the English side who finished ninth.

Uganda had finished third – behind Australia and Kenya – in Pool D to miss a place in the knockout.

But made amends in the placement games where they put up an impressive run before falling to hosts England.

They beat Sri Lanka and Tonga to book a date with England.

The Rugby Cranes were 9th in the 2018 Gold Coast games after finishing 11th thrice in the previous editions.

All Uganda Matches

The 2022 Elgon Cup between Uganda and Kenya rugby national teams has been cancelled due to economic and political challenges.

Uganda Rugby Union in a letter dated July 15, cancelled the annual rugby matches between Uganda and Kenya.

The Elgon Cup was scheduled to take place on July 23 and July 30, in Uganda and Kenya respectively.

“We regretfully inform you that these have been cancelled for this year, 2022,” read part of the statement released by Uganda Rugby Union.

“Kenya Rugby Union has informed us that with prevailing economic conditions and the looming general elections in their Country, they are unfortunately unable to play the Cup this year. 

“As a partner, we duly understand and wish them the best in the remainder of their competitions,” part of the statement read. 

Kenya Rugby Union also confirmed that the Simbas would not be available.

“Following consultations internally within the Kenya Rugby Union, and with our stakeholders and sponsors, we regrettably will be unable to participate in the Elgon Cup 2022 that was slated for later this month.

“This is as a result of the prevailing economic conditions in the aftermath of Covid 19, we are not in a position to confirm our participation in this year’s tournament,” read part of the statement released by Kenya Rugby Union.

The rugby event has not taken place since 2020 due to the outbreak of the pandemic. 

Uganda Rugby Sevens coach Tolbert Onyango has named the final squad to represent the country at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.

The Rugby Sevens tournament at the 2022 Commonwealth Games is scheduled to be held at the Coventry Stadium from 29th to 31st July 2022.

The Rugby Cranes qualified for Commonwealth Games after reaching the semifinals of the 2022 Rugby Africa Sevens in Kampala, which they eventually won to also book a place at the 2022 Rugby 7s World Cup in South Africa.

Onyango has named a final squad of 14, including Buffaloes’ speedster Levis Ocen who is on standby. Of the team that won the 2022 Rugby Africa 7s Cup, only Kelvin Balagadde has been left out.

It’s Uganda’s fifth straight time playing at the Commonwealth Games after previous appearances in 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018.

Rugby Cranes 7s Squad

Philip Wokorach (AS Bédarrides – France), Michael Wokorach (Heathens), Ian Munyani (KOBs), Adrian Kasito (KOBs), Aaron Ofoyrowth (Heathens), Okeny Nobert (Heathens), Claude Otema (Heathens), William Nkore (Pirates), Timothy Kisiga (Pirates), Desire Ayera (Pirates), Isaac Massa (Pirates), Karim Arinaitwe (KOBs), Alex Aturinda (Pirates), Levis Ocen (Buffaloes)

The Uganda Rugby Union has postponed the National Rugby Sevens series.

The series that was meant to kick off this weekend with Mileke Sevens has been moved to August with the union citing a busy international season.

Nile Special 7s, a 7-leg event running across the whole country was scheduled to start on 9th July, 2022.

The Uganda Rugby Union (URU) currently has a busy schedule with immediate focus being the 15s international schedule.

The Elgon Cup is coming up later this month with two legs and the 7s team will also be participating in important international tournaments. Each of these tournaments deserve to get the full attention and focus they deserve from URU, the players and partners.

We thus unfortunately have to postpone the Nile Special 7s. The postponement does affect the Regional 7s series which feed into the National 7s and were already on-going too.

The Nile Special 7s series will commence on the 6th of August, 2022 and the new schedule for the rest of the year will be shared by the end of the week.

We sincerely apologise to you all for the inconveniences.

Uganda Rugby Union Statement

The 2022 National Rugby Sevens Series are set to kick off this weekend at Legends Rugby Club with Warriors RFC hosting the first circuit.

The draws for the opening round (Mileke Sevens) were on Monday afternoon for the July 9-10 tournament that will comprise sixteen teams.

The tournament has ten core sides including Walukuba Barbarians who replaced Sailors relegated after the 2021 series.

The remaining six sides have been invited from the Central Region. Rhinos topped the standings after three rounds of the regional sevens and will, alongside Boks, play for core status later this year.

Mileke Sevens Pools

Full National Sevens Series calendar:

EventLocationDate
1Mileke SevensLegends Rugby GroundsJuly 9-10
2Soroti SevensSoroti Municipal Stadium, Soroti CityJuly 16
3Arua SevensGreenlight Stadium, Arua CityAugust 6
4Rujumba SevensKings Park StadiumAugust 13-14
5Fort Portal SevensBuhinga Stadium, Fort Portal CityAugust 27
6Jinja SevensKyabazinga Stadium, BugembeSeptember 3-4
7Kyadondo SevensKyadondo Rugby ClubSeptember 17-18

Kenya Simbas proved too strong for Rugby Cranes in a quarterfinal of the Rugby Africa Cup which doubles as the Rugby World Cup Qualifiers.

The Ugandans were second best throughout the 80 minutes as their rivals earned a deserved 42-07 victory at Stade Maurice David, Aix-en-Provence.

Kenya thus progresses to the semifinals while Uganda will play classification games.

Tries from John Okoth and Thomas Okeyo, both converted, gave Simbas an early 14-0 lead and the Rugby Cranes never recovered.

Samuel Asati and Bethuel Anami went over to give the Simbas a comfortable 28-00 lead at halftime.

Teddy Akala crossed for Kenya’s fifth before Rugby Cranes found their consolation try through Jacob Ochen was converted by Philip Wokorach.

Kenya faces the winner between Senegal and Algeria while the loser will take on Uganda in the placement matches on July 6.

Rugby Cranes head coach Fred Mudoola says his charges are ready to do the job when they take on Kenya in the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup.

The Rugby Cranes take on Simbas on Saturday with a place in the semifinals of the continental championship at stake.

“We have trained for around three months, and at this point, there is no turning back. It’s about showcasing what really Ugandans can do,” Mudoola said at the flag-off.

“I know we have a couple of young players but it gives an opportunity to more players and young players to also keep working hard.

“Like any team, we want to go out there and win. Kenya are very physical, they use a lot of their forwards and they have serious runs.

“We have done the best, they have been in Currie Cup and that will not be our excuse. We have to go there and compete.”

If the Rugby Cranes go past Kenya Simbas, they will face the winner of the tie between Senegal and Algeria in the semifinals.

Uganda’s national men’s rugby 15s team. (Rugby Cranes) has been flagged off for the knockout round of the Rugby Africa Cup.

The minister of state for sports Hamson Obua flagged off the team for the tournament which doubles as the qualifiers for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Rugby Cranes will be taking on their counterparts from across the eastern border Kenya Simbas who had a camp in South Africa and skipper Ivan Magomu anticipates a tough game but is confident.

“It’s never easy, it’s a derby, we are going there as massive underdogs, they have had two camps in Cape Town, but I believe the boys want to send out a strong message and we are buzzing to go.

“The preparations have been good, the spirit of the Boys are high. We have seven debutants, and it’s also a mixture of young blood.

“The newcomers have to fit in the shoes and am confident they can fit in very well. We are going to compete. We have had good preparations and we want to go all the way to the finals.”

If the Rugby Cranes go past Kenya Simbas, they will face the winner of the tie between Senegal and Algeria in the semifinals.

The Squad