The second stop of the 2025 Nile Special Rugby Sevens championship will be held this weekend, August 9 and 10 at Pece Stadium in Gulu City.
A host of clubs are gearing for it, following the Kabaka Coronation one, which kick-started the Sevens season at the Kyadondo rugby club last weekend. None more so than the Walukuba Barbarians will be more upbeat.
The Jinja-based side beat the defending champions of the sevens, the Platinum Credit Heathens 19-5 in the final. But to understand how significant this was, Walukuba beat the Heathens twice on the same weekend, including a 17-7 win during the group stages, such a rare feat for this young side.
But did Walukuba just prove that they are about to knock in the door so that they can sit on the table of men, where the likes of Heathens, Kobs and Pirates dominate rugby? Leonard Lubambula, who with his heavy beard, celebrated the Kabaka Coronation Sevens victory with so much gusto, has for the last three years carried one consistent message:
“We are not so far away from the big teams of our sport. All we have to keep doing is working hard and believing in our ability.”
Perhaps nothing could have proved how strong a mentality Walukuba has built over time. In the final, they fell behind to the Heathens, who were playing on home soil. That ordinarily meant that Heathens had the home support, which normally makes it hard for them to be beaten at Kyadondo.
Yet, Walukuba, with their never-say-die attitude, were able to get the neutrals and the Heathens haters all rooting for them because of their breathtaking rugby. Sometimes, those 14 minutes of the final, were spellbinding. But more importantly, they forced the more experienced, and possibly more resourced Heathens into countless mistakes.
That is what happens when the team is well grilled for battle, and without a doubt, Lubambula has done that. That said, observers believe that while Walukuba did well at Kyadondo, it is still early days in the sevens campaign, to even count them as a possible winner of the championship come the end of September.
A number of the big teams did not field their best players, yet when push comes to shove, they will induct them. The question will then be whether Walukuba can match them. Last year, the Rhinos won the first stop in Entebbe, but did not finish among the top three ultimately.
So, Walukuba cannot be celebrating yet. In response, Lubambula said that they are not celebrating, but he believes his side have the parts to win it. Walukuba’s first win was in 2023, the Mileke Sevens in Tororo. They have lost a couple of finals. Maybe that experience will come full circle for them this time.