The gap in quality of rugby in the East and Central region of Uganda continues to increase compared to the West and Northern Regions.
In the upcoming premiership, the Jinja sub-region will boast three teams in Kakira Simbas, Jinja Hippos and Walukuba Barbarians, while the remaining nine teams are from the central.
With this new Uganda Cup format, teams are expected to play at least four group games before being eliminated or moving to the quarterfinals. This increased number of games with no increase in resources or quality across the board has inevitably led to walkovers and large scores.
The first two gameweeks have registered two walkovers each and a high-scoring game. On the opening weekend, Kakira Simbas and Elgon Wolves both gave away walkovers due to poorly equipped ambulances. On game day 2, the Walukuba Barbarians failed to make the trip to Kabale to face the Kigezi Silverbacks, while the Rhinos made the long trip to Gulu but the City Falcons failed to provide a standard ambulance, hence a walkover.
During the opening weekend, the Black Pirates washed Kigezi Silverbacks 154-9, marking the biggest margin of the 2025 rugby calendar. On game day 2, the KOBs went to Fort Portal and picked up a 102-point win against the Fort Portal Tyrants in a game that was played for only 50 minutes. These are the biggest wins of the Uganda Cup so far, but Buffaloes’ 63-7 massacre of Kyambogo on Game Day 1 and a resurrected Hippos’ thrashing of Mbale Elephants 78-00 on Game Day 2 are worth mentioning.
These results paint an ugly picture of the bloated new tournament format that introduced a group stage and increased the teams from 16 to 20.