Southern Kings ready for 2013

South Africa's latest Investec Super Rugby franchise, the Southern Kings, say they are ready to go and will be competitive in next year's Super Rugby competition.

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0 Based on the East London-Port Elizabeth region, the Kings will bring a long-standing rugby tradition to the competition after significant preparation work achieved under former Springbok assistant coach Alan Solomons, who also coached in Ulster and Northampton

The side will be coached by former Crusaders hooker Matt Sexton who takes up the position on Wednesday. And the region's rugby academy is headed former Springboks Robbie Kempson and De Wet Barry. 

After a period of neglect since the advent of professional rugby, the game has been rebuilt under long-time identity Cheeky Watson.

Solomons told the Cape Times: "There was no professional rugby and no Currie Cup premier rugby, but all the time that senior rugby was regressing, schools rugby remained very strong, as it is today. The feeder system has always been there, but there was nowhere local for top players to go, so they moved on to the glamour provinces in this country."

The return of the region began with a game against the 2009 British and Irish Lions, by a side coached by Solomons. Watson and Solomons then worked together to get a start in Super Rugby, a start that was initially set for 2011 but then changed to next year.

"There were no structures in place. There was nothing going on. I had no administration staff, no facilities, no ancillary departments. We were the antithesis of the professional unions in this country," Solomons said.

They gradually put the pieces together and feel they are ready for next year.

"Today we have all the nuts and bolts in place for a truly professional rugby department," he said.

The side will be based on a well-equipped Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth and its numbers will be recruited initially. The recruitment will be based on a small core of existing players, including Luke Watson, players coming off contracts overseas and South African players coming off contracts.

Solomons said 'eyebrows will be raised' when the signings are confirmed.

"We have a two-fold strategy at the Kings to get our rugby to the very top, and it very much involves the Academy. Firstly, we have to develop high-performance rugby from the top down because we have not had top-flight rugby, but at the same time we will transform the union from the bottom up through the Academy. We will build from within," Solomons said.

Watson said that while buying a team for 2013 was not ideal it was necessary to get started.

"Ideally, you want to produce your own team and grow from within, and when you see how our talent is flourishing for other teams, the long-term future of the Kings is guaranteed because our schoolboy stars will now mostly choose to stay at home," he said.

 Interesting Article-

Good point is"- Recruitment will be based on a small core of existing players, including Luke Watson, players coming off contracts overseas and South African players coming off contracts."

The players coming of contracts will mostly be the lions I presume. They probably have a clause in their contracts that lets them leave if the Lions get kicked out of the Super15- as expected by most except the Lions management team. I suppose the Sponsors also have a get out clause if the Lions are kicked out of the Super15. 

So Puke is dying to get back into the the scene. 

I wonder which overseas players are being referred to. 

The goverment will be pumping money into this so ensure it is a success. Interesting. 

Apart from the Watsons - many people may support this new side

This is bound to be a monumental flop and I for one cannot see how a core team of players at present playing for the Queens can help in any event,    In this regard I have to mention that the present team is not strong enough for the main CC  competition.   Taking that core and building it up with players from the Lions would not help either.

The franchise is under the management of a quasi-politician and is likely to be funded in the main by the SA Government - ie the beleagured SA taxpayers.    It is bound to be another Government-funded flop and the question will be who will they get to play of players was present contracts are expiring - ie in the main from the Lions.   

The Lions have a coupole of very good players - the rest are no good.   Those player - being Afrikaansspeaking - will not be contracted by the notoriously anti-Afrikaans Watsons.    That means they may get some Lions players - but the majority - especially the better players, will either leave SA and play for foreign franchises and teams  or move to other SA franchises.

Money talks and I may be wrong here - but I think the decent players in the Lions squad will find employment elsewhere.    There are rumours that some have already signed for the Bulls - so that would be the norm.    I believe that one of the Watson's prime targets will be Jantjies - no other SA franchise will want him in any event and he is so weak that they would probably get him.  The others could inclyde players like Waylon Murray and Mapoe.  

If I mention decent players - the following comes to mind:  Taute, Doppies La Grange, and a few of the forwards, but thy would proibably be accommodated in other teams.   

I frankly do not see how decent overseas players will come and play for them.   SA has an excahnge rate problem and if they are paid in Rands - they would not be interested.     The team make-up will be a joke and they will be far worse than the Rebels are at present.    They are definitely destined for the bottom of the log of Super 15 - with no wins and no points on the log.

Political manufacturing of any sporting team is a monumental flop and this one is bound to be.   Any good Super 15 team will beat them by more than 100 points and any of the others by at least 50 points.     Even the low-grade Lions franchise would be better than that team.

I do not see how that would serve Super 15 rugby and there would possibly be serious problems with that concept in Australia and New Zealand.

I will get from Caveman his avatar - whenever I deal with this lot - and use it for discussion of this team and performances    Will you help out caveman????

They are gonna get thumped next year. The one up side is that they'll play more games against SA teams than the other teams, so at least our other teams will get lots of log points out of them. It is sort of like a bonus for the four deserving SA unions next year.

from what i heard the kings has some big big corporate backing/goverment BEE backing. so they will be on a spending spree of note. not quite sure if they can pull a english soccer stunt and buy a full sqaud of ex boks ???

i know sexton and he is really a good coach as well. i dont no really. there is a part of me that might think they can be more worth than the lions seeing they might provide better teams seeing that they have this huge amount of cash but i feel the lions need some time to as well. to be honest i dont know that will be better for SA rugby. lions deserve the place but can they be realistic title contentenders in the long run ??? they themselves are very cash strapped and require a lot and i do mean a lot of help. its a tough nut to crack. i feel maybe there need to be a made a decision made and made quickly. at the end of the day the decision needs to be to the betterment of SA rugby

Look I am not completely against EP rugby, they have produced many many good players over the years that have been snapped up by the bigger unions. I just have one question, if the Watsons weren't bum chums with all the politicians, would this have happened? I'll answer for you, no it would not have.

i agree bluebok but the lions have have commited not done themselves any favours either in recent years. i love the brand of rugby they are playing and i feel with more depth in players they can compete but the ugly truth of the matter is the lions and there current structure of players and money are not going to improve quickly. i really just wished they can get a few million on board and can contract great players and make themselves a better quality side. they are the bottom dwellers and its really going to be tough to convince other teams to accomodate them

So the queens who cant win the vodacom cup are more deserving than the Pumas, Leopards and Griquas  - all Currie Cup sides ? The Lions will whip the queens in a playoff. 

No the honourable way to go about it would have been to win the Vodacom cup get promotion to Currie Cup and then validate your claim by doing well there. Here suddenly one vodacom side of no particular merit gets given a Super rugby spot. Why? The answer to that shows the rotteness of the decision.

its a tough call really. but it goes to show that rugby and politics dont mix

 The old thing of the cANCer.  We are all equal, some are just more equal than others.  Politics and sport are no bed fellows that is for sure.  Why the Kings?  What makes them special?  Last year Boland whipped their asses in the Vodacom final and now they will play Super rugby?  It desecrates the sport, bringing it into the sordit world of politics with an agenda.

well if they can contract some of the overseas boks it will benefit SA rugby having this players back in our system. to be honest the lions are going nowhere in terms of signing bigger players and there depth is a joke. they will always punch above there weight so either they need to shape up or ship out in my view. saru cant afford to have no title hopes in the super 15. its rather useless to just be there to make up the numbers. the lions if they are in for next year need a lot and i do mean a lot of cash and they need to sign a lot of players. the same can be said for the cheetahs that to breed the players but need more cash to compete with the depth of the other teams

People like Cheeky and his degenerate offspring are the reason EP rugby is so bad. I truly hope that SA rugby wants to help rebuild EP rugby, but they will have to start by shipping that family out to sea and leaving them there.

 Imagine this time next year we will be watching Luke aka Puke leading out the Southern Kings.

Daddy has arranged everything.Having a traditional under privilidged led area by " Daddy I want my own Super15 team, please Daddy"

The Southern Kings would have much more support at this stage- except for the Watsons. 

Every tackle made next year by every SA super15 team- is MOER Puke!  MOER Puke.