Saturday, April 24
*Jinja Hippos vs Heathens at Damwaters – 3:00pm
*Plascon Mongers vs Betway Kobs at House of Payne – 4:00pm
*Stanbic Black Pirates vs Rams at Kings Park – 4:00pm *Impis vs Toyota Buffaloes at Makerere – 4:00pm *Warriors vs Rhinos at Legends at 4:00pm
Defending Champions Heathens will be targeting maximum points when they visit Jinja Hippos on Saturday in the Nile Special Stout Rugby Premiership.
The game at Dam Waters pits together fourth (Hippos) against third (Heathens) as the later seek to mount an unlikely title defence.
Hippos growth curve has continued to take a positive direction having won four from six games this season and will be confident of producing another shocking result.
Heathens are aware of the big task ahead.
“We have watched them all t past four seasons, they have really grown up as team and become a formidable force in rugby. The results show of late and I believe it will be an entertaining game,” said Heathens coach Athiyo Muhammad.
Heathens come into this one on the back of a 41-00 win against Warriors, thanks to tries from Arthur Mukama (2), Innocent Gwokto (2), Jordan Bomgomin and Claude Otema, while captain Paul Epilo made two conversions.
Hippos on the other hand, lost to KOBs 03-12 to deny the Betway sponsored side a bonus point.
“The KOBs game was a bit tight and they accepted that the team has improved. We have worked on some few mistakes we did against KOBs and we are ready for the tasks,” said Hippos captain Maxwell Ebonga, scorer of the penalty last Saturday.
“We have improved on our scrummage, lineout and ball handling on the backlines throws and we are good to go.”
Coach Robert Sseguya has made slight changes from the team that faced KOBs; Yasin Wasswa given a starting berth with John Echeru paving way while Jacob starts at 11 as Jackson Opio will be at 15.
Last season, Heathens won both ties – They won 56-00 in Kyadondo before taking a 45-08 win at Dam Waters.
