It was a baptism of fire for Zambia as Uganda’s Rugby Cranes demolished Zambia 30-8 in the Victoria Cup in a game played at the Kings Park Area in Bweyogerere on Saturday afternoon.
The hosts’ captain, Ivan Magomu got the ball rolling and setting the tone when he converted a penalty but the Zambians responded in the same manner by scoring a penalty to equalize the score at 3-3 .
Uganda took the lead again when skipper Magomu’s tactical kicks took Uganda to a 6-3 lead when Eric Mulamula’s try took the home side’s lead beyond reach at 13-3.
Timothy Kisiga’s try ensured Uganda finished the first half with an 18-3 lead.
In the second half, Uganda begun from where they had stopped when Mark Omoding scored an early try to take the game to 23-3.
By this time, the visitors had been overpowered and had nothing to do to stop the Rugby Cranes that were raring to go.
However, due to poor defending, the Zambians got a try to take the game to 23-8 but they were still far from catching the Rugby Cranes.
Meanwhile, Uganda got a try that ensured they took the game beyond reach to 30-8 and the Zambians had nothing to do.
Commenting about the game, Rugby Cranes captain, Ivan Magomu heaped praise on his teammates for a stellar performance.
“ I would like to thank the boys for the spirited performance they put up. We started a bit slow but we picked up,” he said.
Zambia captain, Ali Bhika said it is now time to correct the mistakes in the next game.
“It’s not a score line that we wanted, but it is upon us to see where we fell short and correct those errors,” Bhika said.