it is a ludicrous decision - Watson

Southern Kings chief Cheeky Watson has slammed the South African Rugby Union for their call to give them only one guaranteed Super Rugby season. SARU announced on Thursday that the Kings would play in the 2013 Super Rugby competition, with the Lions dropping out for at least one year. That decision at a SARU general meeting has not been greeted with open arms by Watson though. "I think it is a ludicrous decision," he revealed. "It doesn't make sense in rugby, not in business, not in the church. "It doesn't make sense in any sector of society that you are sitting with a scenario that you are in Super Rugby for one year and expected to achieve.

"But I think we, as the South Eastern Cape, play the hand that we are dealt and we make the best of it." SARU said the promotion/relegation play-off would also be in place in 2014 and 2015, at which point the broadcast rights contract expired and a different format could be considered. SARU president Oregan Hoskins said the decision to include an Eastern Cape franchise in the Super Rugby tournament was first made in 2005, but was twice postponed. "All rugby provinces have been consistently in support of the need for an Eastern Cape team in the Super Rugby competition," Hoskins said. "We made a commitment to the Kings to include them in 2013 and rugby has delivered on that commitment. "The franchise represents more clubs than any other region - apart from the Stormers - and contains numerous leading rugby schools. "It has been starved of top-class rugby competition for a decade-and-a-half and now it has the chance to show what it can do."

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For once I agree with Puke Senior. If the Kings have been given a chance, right or wrongly- then they should be given more than one year. Every new team has struggled in its first year- even the Melbourne Rebels are struggling in their 2nd year- and they have some of the best Wallabies in their team. 

So at the end of the year their is a play of with what are left overs of the Lions vs the Southern Kings.

The Southern Kings should buy all the best Lions players to stop them from being able to put together a good team for the playoff. 

This is most likely a smokesceen decision to stop Government pressure on SARU to allow the Queens to play Super 15 - the Rugby authorities know that it can nver work oit and wants to get the Watson family off their backs.   This cannot be seriously taken as a real decision and the issue will certainly resurfaces once the farce  - that could only be regarded as such - makes it clear that the team would make a real joke out of the 2013 Super Series.

In any event - who will they buy for the squad?   The other franchises will have multi-year contracts with the players originally coming from the EP area and the better players from the Lions would be signed up by other franchises.    The signees will most likely be from other franchises whose player contracts terminates this year and the other franchises do not want to renew.   There could be some sihnees like Butch James. Mapoe, Murray and Elton Jantjies from the Lions signing up - but for the rest nothing much is expected.   In the main the Queens will have to draw players from the CC First Division teams - meaning that the scheme would be a disaster.

Another case where SARU shot themselves in the foot for non-professional reasons.