The Kings’ road to 2013
9 Feb 2012
Alan Solomons says the Southern Kings have the necessary plans in place that will make them competitive in Super Rugby next year.
There have been mixed reactions following the confirmation of the Kings’ admission to Super Rugby for 2013. The Eastern Cape franchise has been given a free ride into the tournament, despite Saru not being sure of how they will be accommodated along with the country’s five other teams: the Bulls, Sharks, Stormers, Cheetahs and Lions. While Saru’s proposal of entering six franchises next year will be formally discussed with Sanzar in the near future (despite CEO Greg Peters stating it will be unlikely), a final decision on how all six franchises will be managed will only be made at the union’s annual general meeting in March.
So the only certainty at this stage is that the Kings are the only South African franchise that is guaranteed to play Super Rugby next season. With that, the question arises: Will they be competitive?
The recent track record of promoted franchises isn’t a positive one. Australia’s Western Force (2006) and the Melbourne Rebels (2011) both finished bottom of the table in their debut campaigns. The Cheetahs and Lions have also struggled to finish in the top half of the log since the separation of the Cats six years ago. The EP Kings’ 43-12 loss to Boland in last year’s Currie Cup First Division final also increased debate about their ability to perform at higher levels, as the union will form the greater part of the final Southern Kings squad.
However, head coach Solomons believes the Southern Kings are on track to do well next year.
‘We were delighted with the news that we will play Super Rugby in 2013. It’s a promise that started back in June 2010, when I first joined the union,’ Solomons told keo.co.za.
‘The key thing is that we have our structures in place and we have a specific recruitment policy that we’ll follow. There are players in our region [EP, SWD and Border] who we are observing this year – all those players are getting opportunities during our warm-up games against the other five South African franchises. Thereafter, we’ll analyse who will be able to make the step up. There also plenty of South Africans abroad, especially in Europe. Most of those guys left because they couldn’t get Super Rugby contracts, but now we can offer them that opportunity. There are also players in South Africa who will be free agents at the end of the season, so we’ll have a look at them too.
‘Yes, the Force and Rebels struggled,’ Solomons continued, ‘but that’s because Australia doesn’t have the player base for five franchises as their league and Aussie rules codes are also popular. In South Africa, we don’t have that problem. We have the player base for six franchises.’
Solomons added that the current criticism of the Southern Kings is premature.
‘Yes, last year’s First Division final was a disappointing result. At the time, we never complained and congratulated Boland. But the truth is, we had nine first-choice players out injured – including four of our leaders. Luke Watson, Rory Duncan, Darron Nell, Marcello Sampson, Boetie Britz, De Wet Barry, Paul Perez, Siyanda Grey and Wayne Stevens all missed the game. Four players who started in our tight five struggled with niggles while SP Marais wasn’t 100% fit.
‘People who are criticising us because of that result need to look at our progress in a different perspective. You have to look at the whole picture. When [president] Cheeky Watson took over in 2008, EP rugby was in a disastrous state and he did a fantastic job in restoring some structure. Since I took over in 2010, we’ve played 37 games and won 30. That’s a winning average of 81%. Those matches were played in four tournaments – and we won two of them [the 2010 Currie Cup First Division and Nations Cup, where they beat Portugal and World Cup participants Georgia and Romania]. You can’t even count the Vodacom Cup, as we were deducted points when we would’ve qualified for the play-offs. We’ve come along way and we will be ready in 2013.’
Another topic of concern is whether transformation will be a priority. The EP region is known for it’s raw black talent, but what focus will be put on the development of black players during this important stage of Super Rugby preparation?
‘When it comes to Super Rugby participation, we have to work from the top down because the Eastern Cape hasn’t played Super Rugby in the professional era. Transformation is a priority, and we will focus on it from the bottom up,’ said Solomons. ‘The union has produced many black players over the years, like the Ndungane twins, Lwazi Mvovo and Bandise Maku, but we’ve lost them to the other Super Rugby franchises. We are doing the best we can to bring those players back home, like we have done with Tiger Mangweni, Mzwandile Stick, Jongi Nokwe and Mpho Mbiyozo.
‘But in the process, we launched our academy last year and plan to produce our own players. We are already contracting juniors for 2012, and five of them are players of colour. This will be a process and we have to be patient.’
By Gareth Duncan
294 Comments
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9 Feb 2012, 15:16 pm
@ET.-221:
hehehe…
Extra-Testicular… or Truly Numbnuts… paranoid much…?
the only standing joke here is you…! but you’re too dof and humourless to get it…
can’t you smell it all around you…?
look on the bottom of your shoes man…
now you’re dodging/deflecting/making up stuff in the psychopathically-narcissistic delusional you call your mind trying to squirm out of the fact that you were so far of the mark about your own unique and twisted derivation of gam…
as i said… if ever my belief that people see in others what they know within themselves is proved correct… you are the mold that grows on the gel in the petri dishes of this experiment called life…
hilarious….!!
9 Feb 2012, 15:18 pm
@ufo-251: UFO the Lions are no longer in financial poo.
9 Feb 2012, 15:20 pm
Holihah.
Indeed mrs xtraball says he is truly numb below the waist.
Must be all the chlorine in the faculty pool.
9 Feb 2012, 15:20 pm
@ET.-246: Thank god. Please stay done.
9 Feb 2012, 15:20 pm
@RL-252:
i saw that RL… if it’s true… that’s really good news…
seriously…
9 Feb 2012, 15:24 pm
And you are raw or undone for you read more than what is written.
9 Feb 2012, 15:24 pm
@hendrikp-247: transie is right….they tricked you hennie.
9 Feb 2012, 15:26 pm
@cane-202:
oh cane….
@the artist formerly known as gunther-203:
9 Feb 2012, 15:28 pm
@the fartist known as Cun.t(her)-253:
When you can exhibit ‘daddyhood’ then come and talk, boy!
9 Feb 2012, 15:30 pm
Capo
Loves
Maltese
9 Feb 2012, 15:33 pm
@ET.-256: Whenever you try and sound deep and meaningful you come across as particularly thick. Just putting it out there.
9 Feb 2012, 15:33 pm
@hendrikp-247: i’m sure you can do better than that hahaha
come on muster a retort.
so you think using the k-word is less deplorable than expressing disgust at ill-treatment and hypothetically puking on the Bok jersey?
fark me! your head is STILL full of water boytjie!
9 Feb 2012, 15:41 pm
@ufo-255:
only to end up relegated one season later…
seems they’ve got the brunt of the mayan prophecies so far…
9 Feb 2012, 15:43 pm
@RL-249: nice going!
now the Stormers are in the poo
9 Feb 2012, 15:51 pm
so the new boys are willing to write off nearly 80 million of lions debt….just like that ,and expect nothing back in return, accept for some advertising on the jersey?great deal lion supporters.
9 Feb 2012, 15:56 pm
@the fartist known as Cun.t(her)-253:
Good to see you still using the creamy, rich stuff but those haploid cells with good DNA you use badly/unwisely when you try to dilute or weaken you poor DNA pool.
Those haploid cells used wisely elsewhere could start a whole new world.
9 Feb 2012, 15:57 pm
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…-263:
if the lion’s get their off-field shittogether it’s not gonna be a foregone conclusion who ends up losing out… they’re playing good rugby…
mayan feeling is that all our teams better pull finger cause it could be any of the five latching onto the hindtit…
9 Feb 2012, 15:58 pm
@capebull-231:
i know i noticed that, he also said they were playing super rugby without being one of the top four unions as per the saru rules for sa team participation in the sanzar comp at the time but saru had in 1998 already changed the rules for eligibility and had adopted a similar franchise based team system to what the ozzies and kiwis had done.
the old cc promotion system was not being used in 2000 as it was the entrenched franchise team system in use by then. he is wrong on two points plus some.
9 Feb 2012, 15:58 pm
Great article!
9 Feb 2012, 16:01 pm
All eyes will be on Meyer, Spies and Southern Kings
Simnikiwe Xabanisa | 09 February, 2012 10:09
There’s nothing like a long off-season to breed a fair bit of optimism.
The last time a South African team of broader interest played was in October at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, when referee Bryce Lawrence decided the ruck was something best left to the players to officiate.
In the meantime, the disappointment of the Springboks’ World Cup title defence ending with a faint whiff of daylight robbery in the quarter-finals has steadily been drowned out by the contented sounds of hope springing eternal.
Everybody seems to agree with the identity of the new Bok coach; the Bulls have appointed Pierre Spies and his muscles as their new captain; and the Southern Kings, theoretically, finally have something to play for.
But a leap of faith can come with doubt. Can Heyneke Meyer handle the fact that coaching the Springboks has little to do with actual coaching? Is Spies really the best candidate to lead the Bulls?
And is the South African Rugby Union serious about the Kings playing Super Rugby next year?
Besides the novelty of having to prepare a side for a test match in seven days, Meyer is faced with a few more challenges.
In taking the most thankless job in international rugby, Meyer said he felt the timing was right for him to take over the reins.
But had he taken over when Peter de Villiers was appointed, it would have made the search for a captain less of a headache because Victor Matfield, his trusted lieutenant at the Bulls, would still have been playing. Meyer has suggested the identity of the captain is not a priority, but successful teams have always had coaches who had a special relationship with their captains. Talk of bringing back Fourie du Preez from Japan to be that kind of foil for Meyer is dangerous, given the scrumhalf’s unhappy stint as Bulls captain in the Super 14 in 2008. And, of course, transformation will continue to be an issue.
In a country where only Gert Smal got the tricky equation right with Border in the late 1990s, Meyer is in good company in being up against it – except he will be blamed for the failings of those coaching below him.
With regard to Spies’s captaincy of the Bulls, outsiders see it as a typical Pretoria decision, even if it came as a surprise, given the players he was up against.
Dewald Potgieter seemed the obvious choice, while Chiliboy Ralepelle’s leadership credentials at previous levels demanded he be taken seriously.
But Potgieter is not guaranteed a place in the starting line-up, and maybe the formerly injury-prone Ralepelle was considered not to have played enough to have won the respect of the dressing room.
Which means Spies, after one of his least convincing years, has been guaranteed a place in the Bulls starting line-up.
Maybe the captaincy has more to do with dragging consistent performances out of Spies.
Saru’s decision to include the Kings in Super rugby showed commitment to solving the Eastern Cape rugby mess, however belated it might be. Yet one can’t help but feel the timing was off: Saru have decided to revert to a six-team Currie Cup premier division and the Kings didn’t look like a Currie Cup team, let alone a Super Rugby team last season.
The Kings – who have become a retirement village for journeymen and do not have the best of black talent in the country – have regressed from the vibrant team that was going places two years ago.
Quite how their inclusion can be justified, and at whose expense (let’s face it, Sanzar will never agree to a 16-team Super rugby tournament), should keep us as entertained as anything that takes place on the field.
9 Feb 2012, 16:12 pm
@ufo-267:
they’re playing good rugby..?..huh..?..
fyi the super comp only starts towards the end of feb..
but seriously, sure thats the right mental attitude to adopt going into the brave new world of relegation/promotion as this adds a whole new dimension to the pain and suffering many, many vested interests will suffer across the land when their team gets demoted and they are left to suffer the reminders of history and the taunts from the other provinces, not to mention the snarky jibes from all over keo.co.za .
however, having said that i can only think that heat is trully being felt most hot in the lion and cheetahs kitchen. between them they have held last spot on the sa log 9 out 0f 16 times and second last spot 10 out of 16 times. history, as they say….
9 Feb 2012, 16:44 pm
It is not a nasty rumor. The Lions are in the black!
From the official Lions Facebook page.
REDEFINE PROPERTIES JOINS THE PRIDE Johannesburg, 9 February 2012… The Golden Lions Rugby Union announced the signing of Redefine Properties Limited as a sponsor of the Union for three years – from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2014 – this afternoon. Redefine Properties join the Golden Lions Rugby Union as a co-sponsor of the MTN Lions team, with the Redefine logo being featured on the players’ jersey for both the Vodacom Super Rugby and Absa Currie Cup competitions. Redefine Properties Limited (Redefine) is one of the largest listed South African property loan stock companies on the JSE with a diverse range of property assets under management, exceeding R37 billion. The company’s property portfolio extends throughout the country and consists of 358 properties valued at R17 billion and a R5 billion portfolio of strategic listed securities. The portfolio is further geographically diversified by 184 offshore properties and listed securities valued at R12 billion held through Redefine Properties International Limited (RIN) and it’s 66% owned subsidiary Redefine International P.L.C. (RI), listed on the JSE and London Stock Exchange, respectively. Golden Lions Rugby Union president Kevin de Klerk said, “On the back of our 2011 Currie Cup victory, we are extremely grateful and honoured to have a company with the stature of Redefine join our ranks as one of our treasured sponsors. “We at the Lions have been building our vision to become a winning culture, a powerhouse of rugby and centre of excellence. In the modern game, this cannot be done without the gracious support of our sponsors. “Redefine has nailed their colours to our cross and we are extremely grateful to have them on board. “We would like them to be assured that they have bought into a group of highly committed people that have the vision and drive to collectively establish the Lions brand as a world leading brand again. “We welcome Redefine today, and look forward to a successful and mutually beneficial working relationship over the next three years”. “We are delighted to be part of this winning partnership with the MTN Lions. We have investors, clients and tenants throughout South Africa , many of whom are passionate rugby supporters. The opportunity to partner with the MTN Lions was one we felt we just could not let pass. Their performance last year was exemplary and we are excited they will go from strength to strength this year and provide us with an ideal platform to build our brand. We look forward to an exhilarating 2012 series,” concludes David Rice, Chief Operating Officer of Redefine Properties.
9 Feb 2012, 16:51 pm
Good for the Lions, it seems that the previous sponser had some serious political agenda
9 Feb 2012, 16:57 pm
@RL-272: the statement doesn’t really say much about the sponsorship details…..but in any case enjoy your feel-good moment.
9 Feb 2012, 16:58 pm
@capebull-273: nope, MTN is still a team sponsor … these new guys are an “additional” sponsor. I think that this deal as well as MTN is bigger than the Bulls Oasis and Vodacom deal.
You are talking about equity partners.
9 Feb 2012, 17:34 pm
You can only have respect for Alan Solomons.The fact that he is still there with the Kings must surely be an indicator that he sees potential in that region.
9 Feb 2012, 17:52 pm
TJOEPSTIL.
Ver weg in die heuwels.
9 Feb 2012, 18:36 pm
What’s with all the repeats?
And who is this maafoedie person?
9 Feb 2012, 19:04 pm
@RL-272:
I said last week in response to that pathetic Gumadie’s antics to unsettle the Lions that the economics might of JHB will prevail, there will be takers and sponsors
As long as the GLRU address the Ellis Park’s security, parking, transportation aspects they will be fine, and apply the high hand when dealing with cheating referees too ( when called for)
9 Feb 2012, 19:22 pm
lion supporters should not jump through hoops yet.the new deal will give them some breathing space and nothing more.it’s a 3 year deal.the lions will still have their close to 80 million debt and loans to the previous investors as well as the unions in partnership with them.this is no mancity-abhu dhabi deal.
9 Feb 2012, 19:25 pm
@ET.-277:
> Ver weg in die heuwels.
Dis goeie nuus
Wanneer phokoff jy soontoe?
9 Feb 2012, 20:14 pm
Can’t wait for SARU’s AGM in March.
There’s going to be blood on the dance floor!
9 Feb 2012, 20:24 pm
Has extraball really gone???
Oh happy day!
9 Feb 2012, 20:28 pm
@Dawn-283: et is still around prawn.
9 Feb 2012, 20:28 pm
@Dawn-283:
Moenie te gou bly word nie, hy’s soos ‘n brommer by ‘n piekniek, hy kom ongelukkig altyd terug
9 Feb 2012, 20:33 pm
@Dawn-283:
He’s on his 2 hour lunch break. In between his 2 30 minute tea breaks.
Juggling his time between keo and that of a lab rat makes a full day.
9 Feb 2012, 20:47 pm
I asked this on the Sharks thread. Curious if anyone has any insights.
“I like the look of that back-line but would like Sithole to get a run. Could someone tell me what happened to Mjekevu?? Why won’t anyone give this kid a shot. He seemed to have the worlds potential – great athlete big strong, decent speed and sounded like he had a good head on his shoulders!”
9 Feb 2012, 22:37 pm
@IAAS-286:
What does Ekstralang Balsak do for a living except being the Tea person?
Maybe count ratpoop for the researchers?
9 Feb 2012, 23:02 pm
SARU’s decision might just be a blessing in diguise. SA Franchise are now accountable and mediocrity is not acceptable.
9 Feb 2012, 23:43 pm
@Jeraldjay-289: agree.for 13 out 16 years the lions and cheetahs have been utter useless……the gravy train- ride needs to come to an end now.
10 Feb 2012, 02:16 am
@capebull-95: And, in that final vs Boland, the Eastern Capers had only 5 “players of colour” in their match 22, compared to the 10 “POCs” in the Boland team…
So much for EC being the big black flagship province. All cheeky sizzle but no steak.
10 Feb 2012, 03:27 am
As a Maori I certainly am not a racist but your Rugby Union in SA have to take a serious look at themselves.
If I am not mistaken a fair proportion of the SARFU board are non white & to many outside SA it appears they have for sometime been pushing the black alternatives.
I am not 100% aware of the policies or politics involved but as a rugby mad kiwi that has followed SA rugby for more than 40 years I am beginning to wonder where your rugby is heading.
A completely black side in the S15. Give me a break.
10 Feb 2012, 05:24 am
@allblacksaregods-276: Solly stuffed up WP. And he bombed out big time at Northants. So people aren’t queueing up to hire him. And he needs a job.
10 Feb 2012, 12:20 pm
@Sasori-287: That`s easy.
The Sharks have JP and Mvovo already. Mjekevu does have potential but could he be a better option than any one of them?
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