The two most successful rugby clubs in Uganda went head-to-head on Saturday during matchday five of the 2021 Nile Special Stout Rugby Premier League season.
Kobs were victorious, beating Heathens 19-11 at Legends Rugby Grounds to extend their unbeaten run and stay atop the table to the fifth straight week.
However, they were not the dominant side on the day during the 10th anniversary of the Lions Cup.
Not to take away credit from the team that has only conceded one try in five games this season, but statistical analysis indicates that Heathens suffered defeat largely from their own mistakes and decisions on attack inside the red zone.
The match was played largely within the territory between the two 22m zones which increased the value of each team’s visit to the opponent’s 22m. Of the 30 total points scored during this match, 60% of those were from attacks inside the 22m territory. And of these, Heathens put only 8 on the board compared to 10 by Kobs.
In both halves, Heathens visited the Kobs 22m territory four times but were able to convert the visits into points only twice. First off Joseph Oyet’s boot and later from Gerald Sewankambo’s try in the corner. This amounted to a paltry 1.0 points per visit to the 22m territory which was not enough for the win or a losing bonus point in the game.
On the other hand, Kobs put 10 points on the board from their visits to the 22m territory. A single James Ijongat penalty and a converted Karim Arinaitwe try, both in the second half. The 2.5 points per visit to the 22m territory for Kobs was just a little bit more efficient a performance than their opponents.
This looks like a balanced contest and outcome from the match until you notice that Heathens had two times more visits than Kobs to the 22m territory.
Kobs won the match owing to better, albeit poor kicking accuracy on the day. The kicking duties were James Ijongat’s and Joseph Oyet’s for Kobs and Heathens respectively. Conrad Mukwaya made one attempt for points from about 50m away for the former.
Ijongat converted 5 of his attempts for points, including a late drop goal from 40m away while Oyet only succeeded twice. This high-billed match further fueled the growing debates on the diminishing kicking accuracy across all teams in the league.
Heathens captain Paul Epillo gave credit to the resilient Kobs defense, especially at the breakdown. “The Kobs defense held on so strongly (throughout the game). Even after a couple of phases, we couldn’t breach it. And like I said, when it came to rucking our ball, we were a bit shaky and Kobs capitalized on that during the game,” he said.
Epillo also noted that Heathens will need to work on improving their attacks. “We have to work so much on the rucks and our counterattacks,” he added.
Heathens host bottom-of-the-table Warriors in their next match on Saturday.
