Saru’s Super Rugby solution not set in stone
23 Aug 2012
GARETH DUNCAN says while most of South Africa bemoaned Saru’s decision-making in accommodating the Southern Kings next season, many missed the fine print.
On Thursday last week, Saru announced that the Lions would be relegated from the South African Super Rugby conference in order to make way for the Kings. This was the decision voted by majority of the 14 unions at the annual general meeting, after no other suitable solution could be drawn up after months and months of negotiations and emergency meetings.
Saru also announced its promotion-relegation initiative, which will allow the Lions to compete for a Super Rugby place in 2014 as they’ll face next year’s last placed South African franchise in a play-off.
Many pundits see this as a lose-lose situation. And they are right.
Let’s look at the Kings.
It’s ridiculous to expect them to escape the wooden spoon in their debut season (well, at least in the South African conference which was the strongest group in this year’s competition). Super Rugby trends have proven that the newbies don’t do well during their early years. The Melbourne Rebels and Western Force finished last in their debut campaigns and still feature in the bottom half of the table every season, despite the odd upset victory. The Lions and Cheetahs haven’t fared much better since splitting from the Cats initiative in 2006.
The Kings will also struggle to recruit the necessary player base to be competitive at Super Rugby level. High-profile names will be hesitant to sign a one-year contract as the Eastern Cape franchise can’t guarantee tournament participation in 2014.
Saru’s answer to the media’s question of the Kings not being given enough time to carry out the necessary plans to ensure they will be competitive in 2013 was that the confirmation on their exclusion was made ‘several months ago’.
If this is so, the national administrators handled the situation poorly.
There were several stories that speculated the Kings were going to be dropped at the last minute. This including the report from the Weekend Argus in July that Saru offered the Eastern Cape franchise R40 million to stall their Super Rugby ambitions until 2016. If this was false, why didn’t Saru come out publicly and denounce these rumours?
This did the Kings no favours.
Kings boss Cheeky Watson has complained that they’re not happy with being given only one season to prove themselves. But Saru CEO Jurie Roux has revealed a way for them to extend their stay.
While most of the media focused on lamenting Saru’s decision, Roux confirmed that if the Kings received the majority vote to have an extended stay in Super Rugby at the next annual general meeting, and if this was passed by Saru’s executive council, then it would be granted.
Roux did, however, add that this is unlikely.
When it comes to the Lions, they’re in a very tricky situation.
While they’re in the Super Rugby wilderness, they’re also in trouble financially as reported on keo.co.za on Wednesday.
Saru confirmed that they are in negotiations with powers up north to see if the Lions could compete in any European competitions in 2013, but this is unlikely to happen as the European season starts in a couple of weeks.
However, Roux revealed a way for the Lions to feature in Super Rugby next season. He said the South African franchises are ‘businesses’ and they are allowed to run their ‘businesses’ as they’re pleased. So if the Lions were to amalgamate with another South African franchise, this would be allowed.
The only issue is, who would want to merge with a franchise in financial turmoil? The Lions have shot themselves in the foot (maybe even the chest) in the way they’ve run their business.
Saru’s Super Rugby solution is not set in stone. The Lions and Kings are likely to appeal its current terms, but the national union is unlikely to budge. If possible, the franchises should look at the fine print to solve their woes, more so the Kings.
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623 Comments
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23 Aug 2012, 12:35 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-199: lol
23 Aug 2012, 12:36 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-196: ja look, the NRU put all its efforts into the academy and this basically sunk competitive varsity rugby here imo.
talented kids chose the academy as it is seen as a fast track to professional rugby if you make the grade and it certainly does pump out boks (not saying they are boks because of the academy but more that a lot of potential boks have chosen the academy to get noticed).
by way of example, when i was at UKZN-PMB jaco van der westhuisen was a contracted 19 year old playing for our first team. his contract was paid by the NRU.
the VC took the NRU by surprise but i have seen a renewed emphasis on varsity rugby here in natal. There needs to be as the exposure players are getting in the VC makes it attractive to talented kids.
like anything, there are politics involved and clubs are nervous about a shift towards VC rugby so i think it will take time but the NRU will get it right, they are after all the shining example of professionalism in sa (well until the bulls started competing for the mantle).
23 Aug 2012, 12:37 pm
@Sasuke-197: that’s why Tac says Paul Jordaan is a dwarf
23 Aug 2012, 12:38 pm
@Tacitus-200: i really dont follow PA’s reasoning in this either.
why would the bulls want to share?
they have no incentive to.
23 Aug 2012, 12:42 pm
@rangerman-204:
Probably because his view is tinged by a “what’s best for both the Bulls and the Lions”, neutral type of attitude.
If, however, you look at it purely from what is the business case for the commercially driven Bulls Union, then the answer is a resounding “no”.
23 Aug 2012, 12:43 pm
@rangerman-198: I know Natal rugby is in a good space. I’m asking why so many kids come down here to study and play rugby (Varsities). Tradition?
23 Aug 2012, 12:44 pm
@Tacitus-205: agreed, i think PA is looking for a win win where there isnt one.
pure business decisions demand that the lions are fed on like a week old giraffe carcass.
23 Aug 2012, 12:44 pm
@rangerman-202: @The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-206: Sorry I see you answered me above. Apologies.
23 Aug 2012, 12:45 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-206: maybe.
maybe its the declining standards of other varsities.
this could turn into a political discussion but i am really not keen to go down that road today.
23 Aug 2012, 12:46 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-208: cheers.
23 Aug 2012, 12:50 pm
@Tacitus-200:
Sure, you play in one stadium alone and don’t have to travel to your partner’s stadiums for matches so you pay them for those rights.
Hardly breaking the bank and given what you gain, really not that tough a decisions.
Question is if Lions will accept this or give up on Super Rugby altogether (lose their license) not whether the Bulls want them.
23 Aug 2012, 12:51 pm
Pissant
Interesting that you say that Gauteng cannot support 2 franchises. It’s possible with competent administrators.
Here is my take on long term sustainability. FS 10 years at most. I look at test match and finals attendence to look at the health of a rugby population. They have a 40k stadium and cannot even get 28 thousand in to see the All Blacks. The rugby population there is shrinking and aging badly.
The guppies will die a slow death over the next 20 years, due to aging and shrinking. 11 thousand un-sold seats for the All Blacks and 13 thousand empties for the Poms tells the story.
The EC and WC will be just fine and Gauteng too. But in the end rugby is going to shrink to only 4 franchises.
23 Aug 2012, 12:52 pm
@rangerman-209: politics as usual
23 Aug 2012, 12:53 pm
@rangerman-207: @Tacitus-205:
Not that difficult gents.
Where the Gauteng region had two super rugby franchise licenses, they will now just have one.
Franchise owners can draw from the resources in their region (i.e. SA Rugby unions).
This is definitely not a win-win for the Lions – they will basically say goodbye to Super Rugby forever and become just a feeder union.
23 Aug 2012, 12:54 pm
@PissAnt-211:
My point is let them continue that struggle on their own. And all the best to them – I actually hope they get back into Super rugby within 1 year.
But let’s not get the Bulls involved in this whole saga. We do our thing, let them do theirs.
23 Aug 2012, 12:54 pm
@Transformation-213: no because i didnt go down that road :lol;
@RL-212: ah, so the sharks and cheetahs will dissapear and gauteng will have two franchises.
and then someone will give you a winning lotto ticket and a group of lesbians will decide to make an exception with you, red p u s sy, for one night only
wake up.
23 Aug 2012, 12:54 pm
@RL-212:
You will like this…
http://www.ruggaworld.com/2012/08/23/end-of-the-heineken-cup/
Lions might not even want a Super Rugby license in future.
23 Aug 2012, 12:55 pm
@PissAnt-214: yes, thats what i have been saying.
you are so smart PA
23 Aug 2012, 12:56 pm
@Tacitus-215:
I don’t know what you don’t get here.
This whole scenario will not cost the Bulls a cent. They will simply gain another feeder union for Super Rugby…
Lions just need to give up the fight for a Super Rugby license and play Currie Cup.
23 Aug 2012, 12:57 pm
@rangerman-218:
Haha.
23 Aug 2012, 12:58 pm
@Transformation-213: I don’t think politics has anything to do with why KZN kids come and study in CT, because ‘back in the day of the NP’ they were already filling UCT (especially) in numbers.
That’s why I asked if it is some sort of ‘tradition’, for KZN kids to come here for their tertiary education.
23 Aug 2012, 12:59 pm
@rangerman-216: “group of l.esbians” hahahahahaha
23 Aug 2012, 13:01 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-206:
Tradition has a lot to do with it.
Also the quality of local Varsities are not up to scratch.
Maritzburg Varsity and University of Natal are absolutely down the tubes.
No koshuis or res rugby comps to speak of anymore and thats pretty much where it starts for all the competitive Rugby Unis.
23 Aug 2012, 13:02 pm
@rangerman-216:
kick a wounded lion when he’s down…for shame sir…
23 Aug 2012, 13:03 pm
@Transformation-222: haha, i was going to go with a pair but there is an outside chance, however slim, that red p us sy could conquer that peak.
about as much chance as the kings winning the s15 next year
23 Aug 2012, 13:04 pm
Burp!
23 Aug 2012, 13:04 pm
@rangerman-216: come now rangergirl, you know very well that guppies are migrating in large number to Gauteng, CT and Perth – who is going to watch them in Mr Price park?
23 Aug 2012, 13:07 pm
@RL-227:
Huh?
Guppies migrating to Gauteng.
Why on earth would they want to do that?
The general popultion movement is actually exactly the opposite.
If you’d been to Umhlanga and Ballito recently and seen all the Vaalies taking up residence there you’d work that out quickly.
As Ranger says.
Wake Up.
23 Aug 2012, 13:08 pm
@rangerman-225:
lots of kisising and fondling and were about to jump into bed when a mutual girlfriend of theirs came by. the chicks freaked out and that was the end of that, never came close again.
true, true
i came within a whisker of pulling it off once. my gf and her housemate, the three of us got drunk and naughty one night
i guess three was company but four a crowd.
23 Aug 2012, 13:08 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-224: haha, that twerp deserves it.
ask him to sing you his natal sharks song
he will get a whacking from me every time he plays stupid.
@John Galt-223: @Transformation-222: ja maybe politics wasnt the right choice of words, rather demographics.
UKZN natal, Westville and PMB are now attended mainly by black students who do not see rugby as an option.
the afrikaans varsities still have large numbers of black and coloured students that choose rugby and some mainly black varsities like UPE have black feeder pops that also choose rugby.
thats the reason i suppose, talented rugby players want to attend a varsity where rugby is an option.
23 Aug 2012, 13:11 pm
@John Galt-228: pensioners, nuff said.
23 Aug 2012, 13:12 pm
@RL-227: bud you need to pull yer head out yer a s s.
are you manie reyneke?
durbs is being flooded by immigrants from the vaal. ballito is virtually a vaalie mini-state.
you denigrate the sharks attendance figures but ignore the three mental halfwits and their dog who pitch up at lions games?
wake up.
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-229:
you shouldve locked the door and told the newcomer to chaila haha.
23 Aug 2012, 13:13 pm
People in here just don’t seem to get it!
There is this continuous cry for the Lions, and then other side the fence the Kings.
Firstly the right thing would have been SARU setting this up from the start, this was not the case thus of course the promises that were made.
Now both sides can argue certain facts to suit their cause but fact remains that both teams in reality should be involved in SR, not just the one or the other.
It is not like this problem suddenly arose and showed its face, but has always been there and fact remains that all unions in SA should be involved in SR some way or the other, which right now is not the case.
Now the Problem I have is not the fact the Lions have been booted out or the Kings put into SR, The lions have dirty laundry as do the Kings, and probably every union but the way it is being done and the effect it will have on people’s lives.
Here my sympathy of course go to the Lions as the people effected losing jobs etc is huge, In the case of the kings you can’t lose what you don’t have, but in the same time deserve to have.
All this goes back to SARU being incompetent and callous in how they do things without a care of afterthought as to the mayhem they are causing, and what makes it worse is that the Lions Union knew this was coming and seems totally unprepared for it.
Now I remember chatting with a few in here around 5 years ago like PA and talking about how each one of us thought the problem of bringing in the Kings could be solved, of course we all felt the Kings were not up to standard and that a system should be worked out to lift their standard and bring them in as a union, and not as Eastern Province, South Western Districts, BBD’s but as a team that could grow.
Surely this is what SARU should have been thinking? Is how to bring them in without causing an international problem which is the case now as clearly seen on Reunion on DSTV. They can only shake their heads in disbelief at our stupidity.
I had suggested to PA at the time that surely play out of the main City as a union being PE, also getting the best group of players from that region. Then a plan should have been made to enforce a space for them to at least play CC as a unit to grow into the higher levels.
Yes of course there would be logistical problems as well as financial etc, nut with planning and getting the right sponsors etc that could have been overcome, instead we have a king’s team doing ok in the Vodacom cup as a team.
Problem here is they have no idea as to what to expect, they Assume they know and what happens in the boardroom does not happen on the field of play.
I have no doubt the same team being the Lions that have now been kicked out will beat the Kings by a massive margin, yet they themselves are the whipping boys of the Super 15. How does this make the Kings better? Or prepare them for next year? Once again I am not saying the Kings should not be in SR “They Should and are”.
The Problem no matter from which side one looks at it, goes back to poor planning from SARU and even I said yesterday that the Lions made their own bed and should lie in it, But in hindsight when one thinks carefully, and not just jabber away a negative at either team, there are lives at stake within a few Unions, So many families are going to be hurt by SARU and their inability to manage our Unions effectively and honestly.
Instead we have finger pointing, insults and joyous backslapping at the expense of others, and no doubt the Kings will be the laughing stock in SR because SARU who after all is the father figure of all our Unions, but has failed them miserably
Actually there is no winner here!
23 Aug 2012, 13:13 pm
@RL-231: haha, at least those pensioners will now be forced to support the sharks properly.
btw, wtf would we move to gauteng for?
23 Aug 2012, 13:16 pm
@rangerman-232: sad delusional guppy – explain then why each year fewer and fewer guppies picth up to watch test rugby? It is a downward trend for years and years. Just stating the obvious.
23 Aug 2012, 13:18 pm
@PissAnt-219:
What do the Lions gain out of it? Because that would then answer the question: “What do the Bulls lose out of it.”
It’s a zero sum game.
23 Aug 2012, 13:18 pm
ok, i am out.
red pu ss y, i am sorry for the true lions supporters like yourself.
but wake up ok?
hanging your hope on a 20 year demise of other unions will see you behaving like that94 yr old on the sidelines at griquas games, dancing like Madiba with only the latest facelift keeping the smile on your face.
i repeat, wake up.
23 Aug 2012, 13:20 pm
@PissAnt-183: Yes they will PA but at what cost??? again
23 Aug 2012, 13:21 pm
Some interesting comments from both sides. What is galling however is that the Kings have not earned this right. Other sides like Griquas have earned a right to play Currie Cup. Can anyone explain why the Kings deserve a chance more than the Griquas?
The consensus view on this matter on SA Rugby.com where I post is against the Kings with only a few dissenting views. I suspect this is the rugby publics majority view by some way although one cant prove this.
All this divisive argument would not have happened if the Kings had simply worked at getting their house in order and got promotion on merit to the Currie Cup. Very few can respect their approach to all this. The merit principle has been ignored and, as always, this has caused a furore.
23 Aug 2012, 13:24 pm
@Tacitus-236:
They don’t go bankrupt. Consider Griquas/Cheetahs.
Cheetahs is the major stakeholder or senior partner. However, during Super Rugby they draw on Griquas resources quite extensively and it is working for them. In a way they solve what would otherwise have been a real problem in depth (which is a problem in any event but thats another story).
It serves the Cheetahs Super Rugby franchise to have a strong Griquas team playing in the top division of the Currie Cup. Players are better conditioned, better coached, paid well enough (sponsors will support teams in CC premier division because of exposure) – more importantly, the Cheetahs Rugby Union don’t have to contract all those players – Griquas does…
Lions simply lose a Super Rugby license.
23 Aug 2012, 13:29 pm
@PissAnt-240:
Why don’t they go bankrupt? Are they getting money from this deal that they otherwise would not? If so, then that is money that the Bulls are now losing.
23 Aug 2012, 13:49 pm
@Tacitus-241:
No, they will continue to get Super Rugby broadcast money as all 14 unions do (even the Kings were getting it).
Their problem is they cannot seemingly financially sustain operating a Super Rugby franchise license.
Simply put, they need to downsize – become a feeder union.
23 Aug 2012, 13:51 pm
@PissAnt-217: interesting news. So the poms and frogs are dumping the celtic bloodsuckers – in 2 years time. Superrugby ends in 3 years so timing not ideal.
Don’t expect that Kortbroek Jurie Roux to be negotiating with them for the inclusion of 6 SA teams into that new competition – he is rather doff.
23 Aug 2012, 13:54 pm
@RL-243:
Well you will be pleased to know some SA folks might already have made contact with the boys that wants to break away
23 Aug 2012, 13:59 pm
RL jy moet maar die Lions in die Vodacom Cup kyk boet … weet jy hoekom? want die KINGS speel in hulle plek SUPER RUGBY! ohh … its trueeeee!!!
23 Aug 2012, 13:59 pm
@PissAnt-244: Rupert? Oberhozer? Not SARU planks guaranteed.
23 Aug 2012, 14:01 pm
@grant100-245: LOL @ smelly toothless one – you win now pisssoff.
23 Aug 2012, 14:01 pm
@PissAnt-244:
Yes they have and it involved a few unions 
23 Aug 2012, 14:02 pm
@grant100-245:
23 Aug 2012, 14:03 pm
@PissAnt-242:
Look, nevermind. It seems you’re dancing around my direct questions here.
Fact is, the Pumas and Leopards were able to sue the Lions for unpayed Super Rugby Franchise payments.
Fact is, no one was able to sue the Sharks for such money, because the Sharks don’t have any feeder unions.
Therefore, there must be some payment that a feeder union gains from its parent union, in exchange for providing them with players.
It is this payment that will benefit the Lions, and cost the Bulls.
If the Bulls therefore did not have the Lions as a feeder, they would not have to make this payment.
Hence, if this payment is R2m, as it was in the case of the Pumas/Lions dispute, that’s R2m that the Bulls no longer have, but which the Lions now have.
Hence, it benefits the Lions to the detriment of the Bulls.
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