Victoria Cup/Elgon Cup: Uganda 21 Kenya 20 

Fortune really does favour the brave as Uganda learned in their narrow 21-20 victory over Kenya to secure the Victoria Cup on Sunday at Kings Park Arena in Bweyogerere. 

Nails were bitten and hearts really sank as time ticked on Uganda’s Victoria Cup hopes. With moments left on the clock, the Simba’s were penalised, and the Rugby Cranes had a lifeline. 

Captain Ivan Magomu was no longer a kicking option and Liam Walker was handed the ball by Micheal Wokorach on his 50th cap. 

Time stood still as Walker prepared to take the penalty knowing a miss would give Kenya victory and scoring would hand Uganda the title and a one point advantage ahead of the second leg of the Elgon Cup. 

In an afternoon where Uganda had missed four penalties, that particular one was in a similar position to the conversion he had missed minutes before so the anxiety was heightened. You could hear a pin drop when the Toyota Buffaloes player was preparing to take this kick but once that ball fell between the posts it was celebrations galore as the rugby fraternity took in the scenes.  

At the final whistle, it was another day to savour a very good and historic win for the fast-changing team.  

Uganda scored two tries courtesy of Conrad Wanyama and Joseph Oyet. The two try scorers really had to pair brawn and brain to get over the line but once again captain Magomu was on hand to orchestrate. 

"We stuck to our game plan. We knew that if we had defended well in the first 10 to 15 minutes they would tire and we had to move the ball out to the side. We pounced on them and got one on the side and punished them," explained Magomu. 

Kenya really came out of the blocks really fast in the early part of the match after Victor Akala, Jone Kubu and Joel Izunga made early inroads into Uganda’s defence. Their attack was syncing too well and that early try by Kubu almost had the desired effect on the team. Kenya raced to a 12-0 lead after Akala and Inzuga scored early tries.  Uganda remained positive and every minute the confidence started showing and once Magomu scored the two penalties to half the deficit it was game on. 

The boys then played as a team and things started going their way.  It was all hands on deck as Uganda landed some very significant blows on the Kenya defence. The tries were really top-notch, especially Oyet’s finish with a flourish.  At the end of the day, the team can take pride in how well they played after going behind. 

“Of course, this is a derby, the match was really tight and nerve-racking. It was a much better improvement from the Zambia game, our structure is starting to fall in place. Like I said, we have a target and we are now on course to work for that target,” a happy coach Fred Mudoola said. 

The coach has implored his boys to enjoy the win they would regroup this week and work on the second bit of the Victoria Cup. 

Magomu emerged as the Victoria Cup's most valuable player and Eliphaz Emong was named man of the match.