2026 Premiership: The Year of the Cranes Chronometer

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Greetings. A Happy New Year to all, and may it be a prosperous one.

We enter the 36th season of the top-flight Premiership in men's rugby, and the third straight season in women's rugby to feature 7 teams. Most of our performance coverage has been concentrated on the men's edition and we are expected to grow our coverage in the performance statistics of that Premiership.

As a brief preview, Pirates begin the season as defending champions and favourites to retain their title. The Bweyogerere-based outfit will hope to successfully defend a major title (Rugby Premiership, Uganda Cup and National Sevens Series) for the very first time.

Heathens have a reputation to protect. In the years since 2009, they have won at least one Premiership title every two years. But all this happened while Michael Wokorach was part of the club and they begin a journey without him for the first since 2008.

KOBs are still without a Premiership title since 2021, when they attained a Premiership and National Sevens Series double. The club's longest drought were the five seasons between 2009 and 2013, and failure to land this season's Premiership will equal that streak. In the years since the 2021 title, they have had a different Head Coach for every season.

For the Grand Final runners up, Hippos, the administrative civil war from last year has had an effect on the loyalties of the players. The mass exodus of several senior players will greatly encumber their performance this season. This leaves the door open for Buffaloes, Victoria Sharks, Rhinos and Walukuba, all of whom were quarter-finalists last year. Mongers and newly-promoted Impis are likely to have a say on the jostling for playoffs. Warriors have played in relegation playoffs the last two seasons and a key aim this year is to avoid those games. Kakira Simbas will look to match the high standards set by Victoria Sharks for promoted teams.

Featured Game of the Week

Our capabilities to cover all games are still limited, restricted to 2 of the 6 Premiership games each weekend. For Week 1, the Rhinos vs Victoria Sharks games was the focus. In addition to last season's stated focus, there will be additional focus on set-piece performance for both teams and individual players.


Cranes Chronometer

In the past, we have worked with the team at Fat Cats to recognise the best performing players of the season, call it the Team of the Season. In 2024, one team of the season was made whereas last year two different teams were made; a Fans' team of the season and an in-house team selected by a panel from Fat Cats and Isa Metrics. For this season, we shall be formulating a team of the week at the end of every round.

Looking back through the archives, the most recent example of a team of the week that could be found was in the 2022 Nile Special Premiership. The Week 14 Team of the Week is displayed below.

The inspiration for this season comes from South Africa, originating from their days participating in Super Rugby. On a weekly basis, Super Sport put up a Super Wrap article on its website, reviewing the weekend's Super Rugby fixtures, which always concluded with the best performing Springbok-eligible players from the weekend. The team was dubbed "Bok Barometer" a measure of which Bok-eligible players put their hands up for a selection as per that weekend's games. The Bok Barometer feature has evolved over the years, and other media outlets like The Times Live (compiled by Craig Ray) have a Bok Barometer, and the players evaluated are not only restricted to those playing in South African rugby franchises but also Bok-eligible players playing in other rugby clubs across Europe and Japan.  


Our version, titled Cranes Chronometer will focus on the best Rugby Cranes eligible players from the weekend's performances. There will be a degree of subjective preference from selected individuals who've watched the games, giving their preference of the "best players on ground" from the different games of the weekend, coupled with the games that where performance analysis will be covered this season. It is intended to answer the question, if the Rugby Cranes starting XV were to be made from the weekend's performances, who would make the cut? 

Without further ado, the Cranes Chronometer for Week 1 is unveiled below.



Ceteris. Paribus.

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