If you want to have an idea as to how this year's Guinness Rugby League that starts Saturday will shape up then you should have been at last Saturday's final round-robin Chairman's Cup game between G4S Pirates and utl Kobs.

It was a game of two halves, no tries and was settled with a sudden-death Anthony Kinene penalty that earned Pirates the bragging rights.

Pirates came out with guns blazing in the first half, pinning Kobs in their half. Pirates then got a taste of their own medicine in second half when Kobs ran them ragged. Returning centre Tony Lugya showed that he may not take long to learn how to run off the fly-half, and play with the kind of finesse that Kobs usually ooze.

With no points on board, the game went into the dreaded sudden-death period in which the 5 ft 5" Kinene stood tall. The win has gotten Pirates and their faithful chest-thumping. They are talking of winning the league unbeaten. Kinene, Moses Soita, Bobby Bibagamba, Felix Lubega and fly-half Alfred Karekaho will, they reason, ease them to that lofty target.

Kobs' patron Nathan Wasolo, however, reckons that in playing the confident card, Pirates may walk a thin line between failure and heartbreak. And it's not just because the impending absence of Brian Makalama will lighten Pirates' front five. "We pushed them all the way yet we played with six junior players," Wasolo reasoned before firmly adding, "I'm not scared."

Not scared perhaps because Kobs' talismanic fly-half Edmond Tumusiime had just assured Wasolo that "my knee is fine...I will play [this weekend's] match."

Allan Musoke also looked in great touch and hungry as ever. Kobs' 7-0 loss to Entebbe Mongers nevertheless showed that if the utl side think they are going to steamroll through the league, as was the case on the last two times of asking, then they are dead-wrong.

Mongers are "not an easy side", Uganda Rugby Union official Ramsey Olinga offered. They, he added, made Pirates sweat for a 12-5 win in a pre-season trial game and will be a banana skin.

MTN Heathens' itinerary has their first league match away to the Mongers. A rude awakening could well be in the store for the former league champions. Brian Kikawa, their find last season, together with his mates will however be keen on not slipping up.

Possessing one of the heaviest sides in the league, Heathens' obdurate scrum game should hold them in good stead. And with the spotlight torching Pirates and Kobs, Heathens could prosper with few treating them as title contenders.

Like last weekend's game, this season's league could be one of two halves. It could also be settled in the dreaded sudden-death period, which comes along on match-day 14 when Kobs play Pirates and Heathens entertain Buffaloes.