Uganda Rugby Union

The Uganda Rugby Union (URU) is a body registered with the National Council of Sports and mandated by the International Rugby Board to develop, regulate and run Rugby competitions in Uganda.  In a bid to improve its competitiveness in World Rugby, the URU is embarking on a High Performance Programme to develop world-class athletes, leaders, coaches, referees and managers so as to achieve a higher level of quality and consistency in national, regional and international competitions.  To this end, URU is now seeking the services of a High Performance Manager on a full-time basis.

Applications should be sent to akalimugogo@gmail.com by the 25th of January 2013

The Person we seek should have the following attributes:

Person Profile:

Preferred Qualifications and Experience

This years University Competitions kicked off on the 14^th Oct at Uganda Christian University in Mukono and end successful on the 3^rd of November at Makerere Univers Read More

All roads lead to the South Western Uganda Town of Mbarara, 271kms away from Kampala for the 3rd edition of the Western Uganda 7s tournament.
However the defending champions of the tournament will be arriving from the opposite direction. Remera- Buffaloes RFC won the event in 2011 and will be in town to defend their trophy. The Rwanda national club champions based in Kigali will be laden with Rwanda national team 7s stars plus experienced coach, Gerald and will be keen to put stops to the various teams coming from Kampala and Mbarara.
Tournament Manager, Bobby Bibangambah (also coach of local team, Mbarara Mustangs) has gone to great lengths to make sure this year’s tournament is the biggest and best ever. Together with partners Nile Special, Stanbic bank, the Heat, Mbarara University of Science and Technology and a host of other partners, they have made lots of arrangements to make this year’s tournament both very competitive and entertaining.
The Wazee (Veterans) team who nowadays prefer to call themselves X-men (forever young) will be driving their sleek cars led by the Sports Alteza of URU secretary, Aleku to try and wrestle this trophy from the boys from Kigali. Also in the convoy will be the vintage Benz of Michael ‘Undertaker’ Wandera and the powerful sports van of last man standing, Godi. Hot on their pursuit will be Fanzone CEO, Godwin ‘Tonchu’ Kayangwe who because he owns a fleet of cars, we are holding our breath for the one he pulls out of the parking bay of his mansion. Not forgetting the other Fanzone members, once speedster – now speed talker, Mutaks and the motor mouthed MC, Philip who we are sure will be pushing a monster of a car. We expect the DMC of Kobs mascot and SMS guru, Kyagaba to trail this group.
Away from the showy X-men, we expect a host of other teams to drive down there including Rams RFC, G4S Sailors, Impis, UCU, KIU and a host of many other teams.
Word has it that a bevy of rugby fans will be making the trip with an aim of adding colour to the tournament (maybe also forming their own team) but also painting the town red by the night. This group will be led by the leading Pirates cheerleader…no prizes for guessing who it is. However they still have space in their vans but only open to male occupants.

The tournament will be played at MUST sports ground on Saturday 3rd Nov between 9:30am and 6:30pm and the rest of the tournament at the “Heat” grounds/dance floor between 9pm and 6am.
See you all in Mbarara.

Tag Rugby Media
Tag Rugby centers kids on Saturday excited the crowd with a demonstration of what they do best to become great Rugby players during the half time break of the Uganda Cup grand final Derby between Heathens and Kobs.
The little kids under the age of 10 years from Kyadondo, Makerere, Kampala centers and Banunule as well as faith and Hope orphanages were glad to be given another opportunity to feature at Uganda Rugby’s prestigious Tournament grand finale following the wonderful display showcased during the England Counties verses Elgon Warriors tour game on the 9th of June this year.
The toto’s showcased the origin of special skills, team spirit and support as each side made trys that were equally replied by opposite team. The kids who come from different Rugby club centers enjoyed the senior game as well having home teams to support with players they look unto as their idols.
Kob’s victory was greatly celebrated by the Kampala Toto’s side that plan to follow in their seniors footsteps while Kyadondo, faith and Hope and Banunule cheered every victorious move from their home center team Heathens.
Special thanks goes to sponsors Rwenzori bottling company, Uganda Rugby union and Tag Rugby Trust for making this day special for the little kids.

DMARK KOBS VERSUS MTN HEATHENS

Curtain Raiser: KYADONDO STALLIONS VERSUS ENGSOL TIGERS

Date: Saturday 20^th September 2012

Venue: Kyadondo Rugby Club

Time: 3:00 PM

Gate Fee: Ushs 5000

DMark Kobs will be out to end MTN Heathens 3 year unbeaten in all competitions at their Kyadondo Fortress. This also doubles as  the Lions Cup with a format similar to the Bledisloe Cup. It is an annual competition that will be played between Kobs and Heathens.MTN Heathens are the current holders on a 33-23 agreggate.Who ever wins the Uganda Cup also wins the Lions Cup  for 2012.

Read More

The 2012 Schools Rugby Independence Cup lived up to its billing with some very exciting and edge of the seats games.

The games were played at Kyadondo Rugby Club on 9th October as Uganda celebrated 50 years of Independence. It was thus only befitting that this was the biggest tournament ever. We moved from the traditional 16 teams format to a 20 teams format with only King’s College Budo failing to honor the tournament.

Hana who had won the 2010  as well as the 2011 editions easily cruised through their group A games and where joined in the Quarter finals from their group by London College of St.Lawrence.Powerhouse Namilyango college found the going hard and could not progress out of the group.

In group B, 2008 Independence winners, Kakamega High School from Western Kenya easily topped the group and were joined by Jinja SS in the quarters.

Group C had the shocks. Rwanda U19 who had just reached the final at the Safaricom 7s found it hard to crack down the teams here and with a loss and 2 draws could not get out the group. St.Mary’s College Kisubi who were erstwhile contenders for the title also can unstuck in this group that was topped by Nationwide team Greenhill Academy and 2^nd team was Mengo SS who were playing their first games since 2002.

In Group D, Kololo SS boasting some experienced nationwide club players topped the group followed by St.Peters School from Mumias, Kenya who had won the Plate in the previous 2 years competitions.

In the Quarter finals, Hana easily routed Jinja SS while Kakamega downed London College with Greenhill defeating St.Peters, Mumias and Mengo also defeating Kololo SS.

Hana and Kakamega won their semi finals games to set up a very mouth watering finals clash while in the plate semis, Mumias and Kololo also won to proceed to the plate finals.

In the Plate finals, Kololo SS took the game to St.Peters early on and were rewarded by a centre post try by Ojok James that was converted. Another Kololo attack saw the ball swing wide to Langa Langa who rounded and scored in the corner. St.Peters responded with a try by Paul Wangare but a late James Ijongat try for Kololo sealed the game 19-05 and Kololo emerged 2012 Independence Plate Champions.

With darkness fast approaching, Hana and Kakamega entered the pitch in this a battle of Ugandan and Kenyan Schools 7s champions. A sea-saw battle was presented to the mammoth crowd and twice, Hana play maker, Phillip Wokorach was denied by the ball just beating him to the dead ball line after some great kicks. Kakamega burley forward Eric Osiemo was stopped just short of the line after the huge and intimidating Kakamega forwards and centers had ploughed their way through the Hana midfield.

Philip Wokorach however broke the deadlock with a deft grubber that he managed to gather and score and duly converted before Kakamega replied with a try at the corner after another bulldozing run by their imposing centre.

In the 2^nd Half, Wokorach added another try for Hana before Alfred Bigik tore through right down the middle to land under the post bring the huge crowd to their feet.

With darkness now making visibility difficult, Wokorach had the last say landing his 3^rd and Hana’s forth and thus Hana took the game 26-05 and with it their 3^rd Independence Cup in a row.

The tournament was sponsored by Uganda Health Marketing group using the Aqua Safe brand, Western Union and the Uganda Rugby Union.

The URU secretary, Alex Kalimugogo and Chairman, William Blick presented the trophies to the jubilant players. The teams also took home certificates from USRA as well as Aqua Safe tablets, water bottles and T-shirts courtesy of Aqua safe.

Special mention to Gombe SS who played their first ever rugby games during this tournament.

That marked the close of Schools for 2012 and action resumes in February 2013 with the Super 8 and the nationwide leagues.

PREMIERSHIP

Game 10: DMARK Kobs 35 – 10 SADOLIN Mongers
Tries: Richard Lumu, Edmond Tumusiime, Justine Kimono & Steven Ogwete.
Conversions:Simon Wakabi 3
Penalties:Simon Wakabi 1 and Joseph Aredo 2
Man of the match: Ronald Musajja(DMark Kobs) Read More

The International Rugby Board (IRB) has revamped its Sevens World Series competition and revealed details of its new International Rugby Series as part of its latest efforts to develop the sport ahead of its debut at the 2016 Olympic Games.

For the 2012-13 season of the Sevens World Series, which kicks off on Australia’s Gold Coast on October 13-14, the number of core teams that participate in each of the nine rounds has increased from 12 to 15, following the qualification of Canada, Portugal and Spain. From the end of the 2012-13 Series, promotion and relegation from core team status will come into effect, with a pre-qualifying competition in Hong Kong and a final core team qualifier in London at the ninth and final round of the season. Read More

U-19 Safari 7′s Results
Main Cup: Western Province Beat Rwanda
Plate final: Uganda 15 Nairobi 0

In a week in which Rugby has received negative press on a daily basis, there was great news emanating from Mount Elgon where a committed group of “Wazee” made an unprecedented trip to Mbale Elephants Rugby Club for a tour to help publicize Rugby and assist the cause of upcountry Rugby.

In the confines of Kampala it is quite easy to forget that Rugby is very much alive and kicking in our upcountry towns: Gulu, Lira, Kitgum, Mbale, Jinja, Mbarara and, more recently, Kasese, Fort Portal and Arua.  Great things are happening in Rugby in spite of the huge distraction that the Kampala Rugby Grounds sale has created.  Today, I will simply report on the tour to Mbale. Read More