By the time they walked onto the turf for the Buffaloes Sevens Cup Final against Stanbic Black Pirates, nothing mattered to Jinja Hippos players.
It did not matter that they would later lose to the Sea Robbers, 07-00, during that match. Jinja Hippos were the Nile Special Rugby Sevens Series 2022 champions.
To clinch the series, Hippos beat title challengers Heathens, 12-05, in the semifinal earlier in the day. Tries from Denis Etwau and Timothy Mugisha kept the former out of reach of the latter. Hippos employed an aggressive defence that tested the limit of the laws of the game while Heathens’ chances went begging with multiple handling errors.
Hippos won just one circuit – Kyabazinga Sevens at home in the penultimate round – but their haul of 128 points was enough to stay above Heathens, Pirates and Kobs who each won two circuits. They had reached five of the seven cup finals in the most consistent performance of the series.
Hippos now join an exclusive club of five teams to have won the Uganda national sevens series – Heathens, Kobs, Pirates, Buffaloes, and Impis.
Individual Honours
Toyota Buffaloes halfback Aaron Tukei was named Series MVP. The youngster stepped up his already-impressive performance with skills acquired from training with the national sevens squad.
Timothy Mugisha recorded an unmatched thirty tries to win the top scorer’s gong. Mugisha is also part of the national sevens training squad.
