Black Pirates registered their fourth straight win of the season after holding off Buffaloes on Saturday at King’s Park.
Despite not putting points on the board in the second half, the Sea Robbers’ three tries in the opening forty minutes were enough to secure a 22-09 bonus-point victory.
Timothy Kisiga, Timothy Odong and William Nkore crossed the white chalk with skipper Ivan Magomu converting two before adding a penalty while Liam Walker kicked in all Buffaloes points.
Pirates started the game with a lot of urgency, dominating set pieces and moving the ball from side-to-side quicker.
The opening try of the game was a typical Pirates backs try as Conrad Wanyama collected from a ruck to go out on the open side to William Nkore who quickly threaded to Magomu and the skipper took a few steps before picking out Kisiga to run through.
Pirates whose discipline was off gave away a couple of penalties. Walker uncharacteristically fluffed the first but got his kicking right with the second from point-blank range.
Odong’s try was nearly a reminiscence of the first. Buffaloes were penalized for offside and Wanyama made a quick restart and went out left to Magomu who found Kisiga and the fullback threaded to Odong to finish off another classic move.
Buffaloes whose defence was far from good in the first half was punished again, this time as a result of their failure to deal with Wanyama’s box kick. Douglas Komakech collected an open ball from Buffaloes’ ruck he however was tackled but got support from Nkore who ran through for the third try.
Buffaloes had a chance to score a try at the stroke as halftime approached but Solomon Agany was a bit selfish not to pass to Levis Ochen when he ran through Pirates’ defence.
In the second half, Buffaloes stabilized their scrum and their defence rose up to the challenge. Gerald Ssewankambo playing his first game on his return to Buffaloes tackled well along with his midfield partner Wilfred Sseguya.
Douglas Musoke carried well and created try-scoring opportunities but was supported not well and in the end, Buffaloes could only settle for kicking points.
The win takes Pirates’ points tally to 18 and stays top of the pile, Kobs ascend second after earning a bonus point in the win over Hippos while Impis slide to third despite beating Rams.
