lions uncertain future,,,

the smart money says the lions are out of here after the 2012 spXV and the southern king are in come 2013, but whats going to happen to the star players within the lions??? surley they would be granted a release from what ever there contract states cos the sponsors they wont have and the money lost for not participating in the spXV, would mean they can afford to keep most of them.

if this is the case, then it would make sense for the kings to scoop up some of the quality players in the lions, to better prepare themselves for 2013. but it would also present an opportunity for other SA clubs to bolster their own player rosters.

IMO, janties would look pretty good at the sharks and this would free up lambie to cover fullback on a more permanent basis where he excels. having two high quality youngsters in the sharks would benefit both the sharks and the Boks in the long haul and u would also finally get to see what janties can really do, behind a pack who dosent get owned 99 times out of 100.

Butch James on his way to the Sharks, so Jantjies  will have to go to tha BOOOLS. He he!

 i heard the james/sharks deal isnt set in stone though??? i dont undesrstand why the sharks would want james, considering hes on the verge of being put out to pasture and the only thing consistent about him is his ability to give opposing teams free penalties.
with the currie cup on the way, i wonder if he is he being considered as back up to michilak??? cos IMO james is the shortest of short term soloutions and an overrated one at that.
 

Sasu

The Lions are indeed problematic and I think their performances on Super 15 level is disgusting to put it mildly.

I met Butch James once at a function organized by a major property developer - even had to write the speech of the local mayor on that issue - and started to talk to James about his involvement in the specific development.   He was as dim as you could posibly find anywhere in the world.   Translated to rugby - I never really rated him - because of his lack of intellect.   To my mind Michalak and Lambie makes a major contribution to the performance of the Sharks backline - which James would fail to do as he has not done so in games he did play in South Africa and on test level.   The main problem was always defence and lack of ball sense .

I live in Sharkland and am a supporter - I do not think that James would add calue to the Sharks team and hope something happen to prevent him coming to the Sharks - we certainly do not ned him in the set up.

I think the better players in the Lions set up will not be cointracted by the Watson lot - they do not have the financial msucle to buy them and they also hate Afrikaans speaking players, so they will not buy them.   I think most of the players invovled would in fact go to other franchises or go to play in Europe or Japan - even in Australia - which in turn would cause a hell of a stink amongst local SA rugby suporters.  The lowly Queens would not get them - end of story.

@clevermike,

thanks for the insight on the watsons anti-afrikaan views, if that is the case, then thats a big shame about some of those players, van de merwe, taute, janties, cilliers, strauss, but the point u raised about them going to OZ clubs would not be easy as only the rebels are allowed more then one international player in their squad.
i hope this changes though, cos those players would do a lot to strengthen the OZ conference which is really weak as piss and constant source of irritation for me, i mean who wouldnt relsih the chance to play the waratahs, rebels, force twice and even the likes of the brumbies and reds hardly send shivers down the teams who were in finals contetion leading into rnd16.

Taking into account the situation in Aus rugby - the rules may yet change and the Western Force and the Rebels be allowed to field more foreign players.   I think that the Reds would also benefit by haing a foreign player in their midst - so I think that it yet may happen that a few players vanish.   Some of the players mentioned by you could be head-hunted by other SA franchises - so the number of players would be accommodated locally.    Jantjies is no problem - although Afrikaans-speaking he is what they called locally a Coloured and would be acceptable to the Watsons.

On average I do not rate the Lions as a team at all - but insofar as the Watson outfit is concerned - they would be worse than worse and I think SA Rugby may yet change their attitude on that one.