Africa Gold Cup:
Uganda 24-48 Namibia
Any hopes of lifting this year's Africa Gold Cup for the Rugby Cranes ended on Saturday after a 24-48 loss to Namibia in Kampala.
The reigning Africa Champions Namibia made light work of the Cranes in a lunch time kickoff at Legends Rugby Club. Tries from Asuman Mugerwa, debutant Eric Mula and fullback Philip Wokorach were not enough for the 2007 champions to get a dent result in front of their home crowd. As it stands now, the Cranes, coached by South African John Duncan, have no chance of landing the continental title. They lie third on the six-team log, on 11 points, 9 behind table leaders Namibia with a single game to play.
It doesn't matter what result the Cranes get from their last game of the campaign against Zimbabwe, only 5 points can be collected, and that would still leave Uganda behind the current table leaders. Actually, Uganda cannot even finish second with Kenya already on 17 points and have no worries from the chasing pack. The fight for Uganda now, is to try and maintain third place, a position fancied by Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe are on 6 points now with two games to play. A win for the Sables against Tunisia this weekend will see them close in on Uganda before the two sides face off in Kampala on August 5.
For Veteran hooker Alex Mubiru, the performance against Namibia may not have been the best but the team is working for a good result against Zimbabwe in the final game. “It’s a young side that is immensely growing by the day. We gave them a run but they were a better side at the end of the year," Mubiru told the press after the game.