Panthers Rugby Club sits at the bottom of the 2025 women’s Uganda Rugby Premiership table with no wins and no draws. Just a losing bonus point from their first match of the season against Nile Rapids at Legends Rugby Grounds.
It was a good start for the youngest team in the competition but since then, things have not quite worked out.
Panthers have lost all their matches in record fashion; conceding over a point per minute against Black Pearls and Thunderbirds and giving away four bonus points to their conquerors.
The KOBs-affiliated club are receiving a baptism by fire but, as I will explain in a few paragraphs, it is instead a forging process which will turn them into sharp players.
See, the thing with women’s rugby in Uganda is that growth occurs at a high rate. Much higher compared to that of their male counterparts.
For example, it took Nile Rapids about four years to win the Uganda Cup in 2024 and in the same year, their agemates She Wolves reached a Cup Final in the National 7s Series.
Ewes are still an arms distance away from the perennial title protagonists but they are no longer an assured walkover team. In under five years too.
Although Black Pearls is an outlier in this argument because of the quality of players they started with, they still have new players who touched a rugby ball for the first time and in a few months were catching the attention of those who cared.
Panthers are simply the latest team on that conveyor belt of women’s rugby teams. They are struggling in the here and now but it won’t be long before they become a formidable outfit.
The same can, and will be when their turn comes, said of other teams rising out of the regions; Mbale Eagles, Nile Leopardess, Buddu Cuppaz, Kigezi Queens… name them.
And when the challenges that plague the women’s game begin to fade away or are solved completely and all teams are focused on matters on the pitch, women’s rugby will be a spectacle.
So, let’s look at the fixtures on schedule this Saturday.
Round Nine Fixtures:
• Legends: Panthers v She Wolves (live)
• Kyadondo: Thunderbirds v Ewes
• Kings Park: Black Pearls v Nile Rapids
All matches will kick off at 2p.m. EAT.
As a heads up, She Wolves won the first round tie by 49-13 in Mbale over a month ago, and they are expected to win in the second round too. But Panthers will not make it a walk in the park.
NBS Sport will broadcast the Panthers v She Wolves match LIVE from Legends Rugby Grounds.
