Super 15 entry for Southern Kings?

[AndyS]

The Southern Kings have targeted 2012 as the year that they will enter the Super 15 in place of either of the under performing Lions or Cheetahs.

The South African Rugby Union (SARU) has been working for some time to get an Eastern Cape franchise introduced to Super rugby.

SARU officials committed themselves to the 2012 deadline at a press conference in east London according to OFM radio.

The Eastern Cape has been a breeding ground for black rugby players for many years and with transformation in mind there has been a big push for the introduction of a new Super Rugby franchise.

The poor campaigns by the Lions and the Cheetahs mean they are the most likely candidates to be replaced by the Southern Kings as South Africa's fifth team in the Super 15.

Buntu Ondala, president of the Border Rugby Union says: "Our target is to say come 2012 and we will be saying: this is the team that we will be putting forward."

"But we are in the process of building it so we can say this is our team."he told the SABC.

There is also speculation regarding promotion-relegation matches being played between the worst placed South African team and the Southern Kings for the participation license into the Super 15.

No matter what the outcome there is likely to be more internal battles within South African rugby as neither the Lions nor the Cheetahs are likely to give up their place in the lucrative Super Rugby competition without a fight.

http://www.rugby365.com/tournaments/...ws/2357661.htm

[The InnFORCEr]

No matter what the outcome there is likely to be more internal battles within South African rugby as neither the Lions nor the Cheetahs are likely to give up their place in the lucrative Super Rugby competition without a fight.

Cat fight, bring it on

[beige]

At least they have their own conference now to faff around with...

[zimeric]

I Firmly believe the Kings are a FAR better option than the Lions.. besides Pretoria and Joburg are only 100kms apart so the Bulls can absorb many of the lions players and fans.
The Cheetahs might struggle but they are still competitive from time to time and they have a loyal fan base that will not be partial to supporting anyone else.

I believe the Idea is to tap resources from Northern and Eastern Cape to make up most of the player pool for the Kings which as you can see by this map is a fair chunk of the country..

[jargan83]

I smell a legal triple threat death match between SARU, Southern Spears and whoever the SARU try to punt

[zimeric]

technically the Spears have legally already been awarded the 5th franchise but SARU have just ignored the ruling...the Spears however are a different outfit to the Southern Kings so i dare say we'll see the whole thing played out in the courts all over again...

[beige]

Hoskins backing Southern Kings for Currie Cup this year

THE Southern Kings could get their big break in the Currie Cup competition as early as this year if South African Rugby Union (Saru) president Oregan Hoskins gets his way.

But the team would not be granted automatic inclusion in the premier division of the series, nor would they necessarily be called the Kings, Hoskins said yesterday after announcing the renewal of Saru’s contract with sports marketing agency Megapro.

Hoskins met Currie Cup sponsors yesterday to discuss the possibility of including the Kings in the series after attempts to include them in the Super 15 failed last year, and he said the sponsors bought into the idea.

Full article: http://www.businessday.co.za/article...aspx?id=106091

[zimeric]

The Southern Kings franchise, in a statement, requested that the SA Rugby Union (Saru) need to urgently confirm the Southern Kings' Super Rugby participation from 2011.

The statement rejects the proposal for Super Rugby participation from 2013 by entrenching one of the Southern Kings partners in the Currie Cup or through a series of friendly matches.

"We are not prepared to wait and will do everything in our power to ensure that Super Rugby becomes a reality in the region from no later than 2011," said Southern Kings CEO, Stephan Pretorius. .... read on in original article

[Burgs]

"We are not prepared to wait and will do everything in our power to ensure that Super Rugby becomes a reality in the region from no later than 2011," Pretorius concluded.

Anyone else get the feeling that the response from SARU, and SANZAR for that matter, would be "Who the F*CK do they think they are!!! F*ck 'em, make it 2015."

[beige]

That's a bit of a weasel article too - I know that the people running that website had links with the old Southern Spears in the past.