By now we would be having a 2019/2020 Rugby Premier League season champion and even begun preparation for the National Rugby Sevens Series but COVID-19 has been a damper on all of our plans.
Things have been unconventional for the whole league especially for teams like the Rams who are not yet safe from relegation but these are the circumstances that we have now.
Banking on hope, Uganda Rugby Union (URU) are still hopeful of completing the league after it was halted back in March as a pandemic preventive measure.
URU recently released an alternative activity calendar, divided into four phases, that will be implemented accordingly if sports is reinstated in one of the months ranging from June (then) to September.
The calendar indicates that league must be played even at the expense of other tournaments like Uganda Cup and the 7s Series.
If the original fixture is not amended, once play is reinstated, Rams will travel to Legends grounds to face Rhinos in their first Post-lockdown fixture. The play will be sloppy due to the long layoff but there will be some tough tests for both teams to gauge on whether they will survive the relegation, especially for Rhinos.
The Rhinos game to open bubble play will be crucial for Rams. That game gives the competition an opening day feel for the bottom teams. There might be training camp and some scrimmage games leading up to the main fixture.
With five games to play in the two-round league, Rhinos are at the rock bottom of the 10-team table off six points from 13 games, five points behind ninth placed Impis. Rams are eighth with 13 points, seven points behind seventh placed Warriors.
Last season, Rams managed only two wins (both against now relegated Walukuba Barbarians) but survived the guillotine.
However, this season the fight for survival at the tail of the table seems intense with the three bottom teams all facing survival uncertainty.
However, for Rams, if they beat Rhinos, then they are likely to be safe for the latter will struggle to secure a second win of the season following dismal display in the pre-Covid-19 days.
With Impis hosting Mongers on the day of a possible return of play, the former are the underdog and should Rams pick maximum points at Legends, the relegation battle will be between Impis and Rhinos.
However, for the top of the table Affair, the title race is surely between Heathens and Kobs with the former leading the latter with five points (63 and 58 points respectively).
