Southern Kings
News yesterday was that the Southern Kings are eager to obtain the services of Blue Bulls and Springbok back JJ Engelbrecht.
The South African Rugby Union have effectively shut the door on the Southern Kings’ drive to field more than two overseas players in their Super Rugby squad.
Alan Solomons, the Southern Kings Super Rugby coach, has indicated that controvertial looseforward Luke Watson will be the captain when the team makes their Super Rugby debut in 2013.
The Southern Kings are looking “far and wide” for players to make them competitive when they debut in Super Rugby next year.
The latest reported players to apparently have signed for 2013 includes centre Andries Strauss from the Cheetahs and lock Steven Sykes from the Sharks.
The next dramatic chapter in the protracted Super Rugby participation saga will be written in Johannesburg on Thursday.
Golden Lions Rugby Union President Kevin de Klerk said that he will meet up with the South African Rugby Union hierarchy on Thursday. This follows the SARU decision last week to axe the Lions and replace them with the Southern Kings in 2013.
South African Rugby officials have confirmed that the Southern Kings will play Super Rugby and that the Lions will sit it out for the 2013 Super Rugby season.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) have announced that the General Council meeting that will decide how and when the Southern Kings will join Super Rugby has been rescheduled to 16 August in Cape Town.
First Zeelim Nel tells us in the weekend Argus that the Kings have accepted a R40 mil bribe to stay out of the S15 till 2016, then the Kings come out on their twitter page and pooh pooh the idea. Who’s telling the truth, who’s lying, who’s leaking this rubbish, and when will SARU just tell us once and for all what is happening?
Eastern Province Kings president, Cheeky Watson, has denied that there is any truth in the rumour that his Union have agreed with the South African Rugby Union (SARU) that they will not play Super Rugby next year.
It looks likely that the Cheetahs will remain a Super Rugby team next year, with the Lions dropping out at the expense of the Southern Kings.
LIONS president Kevin de Klerk believes next week’s crunch meeting between the South African Rugby Union and franchise bosses would “draw a line in the sand” on the Super Rugby participation saga. In January the Port Elizabeth-based Southern Kings were guaranteed their place in the 2013 Super Rugby tournament by unanimous decision at a General Council meeting of SARU.
VS
Last night, one of our Authors, Just for Kicks, mailed me regarding the spreading spat between the Pro-HSM (Highbury Safika Media) crowd and the Pro-Joffers crowd (Greame Joffe and like-minded parties), for want of defining the parties better…
… and thrust in the middle is the dillemma of involvement of the Southern Kings in Super Rugby in 2013 versus possible relegation of the worst performing South African Super Rugby franchise, the Lions, as well as SARU’s apparent woeful handling of Super Rugby participation.
The matter has now escalated to a seemingly FREE-FOR-ALL !
The contents of this Article is long and sometimes laboured, but the serious South African rugby supporter would do well to read and listen to all of it, and form his or her own opinion about the subject matter.
As the Lions lurch from one defeat to another, I must admit to being baffled at the outpouring of sympathy for them the more it looks like they are headed for relegation at the end of the Super Rugby season.
SANZAR CEO Greg Peters has again ruled out the possibility of South Africa having their wish to field six Super Rugby teams in the near future.
New Zealander Matt Sexton will coach the Southern Kings in their debut season in Super Rugby next year.
The South African Rugby Union’s head honchos will come face-to-face with the ‘big five’ at a crucial meeting in Johannesburg on Thursday.
The SARU delegation, headed by CEO Jurie Roux, will meet with officials of the five current SA franchises – Lions, Bulls, Cheetahs, Sharks and Stormers.
The Southern Kings may not exactly be the flavour of the month in South Africa, but coach Alan Solomons is forging ahead – determined to make them a competitive Super Rugby outfit in 2013.
John Plumtree, the coach of the Sharks, has named his squad to take on the Southern Kings.
This side is starting to look more and more like the likely starting lineup with wich the Sharks plan to launch their Super Rugby campaign of 2012.
The only notable variances WILL come at looseforward, where the Sharks regular captain of the season, Keegan Daniel, is only playing from the bench.
In Keegan’s absense, fiery hooker, Bismarck du Plessis leads the side as captain for the day.
Lions coach John Mitchell has included playmaker flyhalf Elton Jantjies in the team to take on the Southern Kings in a warm-up match in George on Tuesday.
It is agonising to watch the South African Rugby Union (Saru) wrestle with what might appear a most complex solution to including the Eastern Cape in Super Rugby. Yet the solution to this is extraordinarily simple, delivering a non-conflict remedy that would otherwise decimate South African rugby to the benefit and advantage of the Kiwis, Australians and England (especially England, hosts of the Rugby World Cup in 2015).
The Lions have announced their team to face the Southern Kings in a compulsory friendly in Port Elizabeth Tuesday evening at 18h00.
Whilst the backline has a familiar ring to it, there a couple of surprises in the pack and on the bench.
This is the 2nd last warm-up game the Lions will play prior to the start of Super Rugby 2012, the next being a warm-up against the Cheetahs this weekend.
South Africa’s five Super Rugby franchises have threatened to boycott the 2013 Super Rugby season if any of the current five teams are excluded from the competition.
Some coaches dismiss pre-season matches as insignificant. The Bulls embrace them as a vital part of their campaign.
The Southern Kings’ place in the Vodacom Super Rugby competition in 2013 was reaffirmed at a Special Council Meeting of the South African Rugby Union (SARU) in Cape Town on Friday. Proposals on mechanisms to identity the four other South African entrants will be considered at a SARU Special General Meeting on March 30.
The Cheetahs say they feel ‘cheated’ after it was revealed they will not be facing the Kings, but a Border Bulldogs/SWD Eagles combination in their pre-season match on Saturday.
SIX years ago, Oregan Hoskins took over the reins as South African Rugby Union (Saru) president, tasked with the huge responsibility of converting the organisation plagued by infighting and back-stabbing into a respectable and ethical body — and there is no doubt he has achieved that.
President of the Free State Cheetahs, Harold Verster, says it is unlikely that the Cheetahs and the Southern Kings will merge at the start of the 2013 Super Rugby season.