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Ex Keo

After unanimously agreeing to their inclusion early this year it is reported the presidents council will re-vote on whether the Kings should play Super Rugby in 2013.

In January it was announced that the Kings would participate in the tournament, but now Die Burger reports Saru CEO Jurie Roux has scheduled a meeting for 16 August, with the Eastern Cape franchise once again the main topic of discussion.

The paper indicates the presidents will apparently be given the following options to choose from:

- The Kings gain Super Rugby promotion at the expense of the Lions;

- The Kings gain promotion, but in a collaborative effort the Lions’ top players then play Super Rugby for them;

- The Lions and Cheetahs merge to again become a franchise (they played together as the Cats from 1998-2005);

- Rugby bosses scrap the Kings’ inclusion altogether.

On Sunday it was reported the Kings had accepted a R40 million pay-off to stand down from Super Rugby until 2016. They have denied this, stressing their determination to be involved next year. Upon making the decision in January there was no plan around how a sixth South African franchise would be included. (Extraordinary!!!)

Saru’s attempts to bully Sanzar into changing the tournament format failed forcing the governing body to reassess their course of action. This latest desperate attempt to reach a solution simply serves to further tarnish the country’s reputation in rugby circles.

Roux responded to the report through a media release, saying: ‘Reports of proposed alternatives to be considered at the meeting were purely speculative. But the decision rests with the general council and until they have made that decision it serves no purpose to become involved in speculation on any scenarios.’

The release added: ‘Each of the 14 provincial unions has two voting seats on the council (one of whom must be the union president or his deputy). The Saru president, Oregan Hoskins, also has a vote, making 29 votes in all.

All one can say is the mind boggles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I also thing it strange that all unions hav the same number of votes. That means the tail wags the dog. Border are on at the same footing as WP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looking at those options, every one has losers and vehement opposition. So even before they vote....they are onto a loser. The R40 million bribe was the only answer with a chance of general support. And obviously somebody in the Kings system gave a nod to the effort....but it was later rejected.

This suggests a slightly larger bribe, say R50 million, could be accepted. Everybody except the Kings get what they want. And the Kings leadership can say their tough stance garnered another R10 million. But to make it really work, Saru needs to go to the Kings and tell them it's the R50 million or option 4. To make this stick they need the votes, which should be easier to get with R50 million salving any twinges of conscience.

Problem is , Puke is not getting any younger. His career could be over in 2016. So do the Watsons take the 40 million and run or push on to get Puke some playing time in the Super15- to fight Apartheid since 1994. 

i reckon the 40 mil might be for a time machine so that puke can at least teleport his younger self out of the early 90's and to present day....either that or he can just buy himself a house in PE just like a real goverment fat cat

also what is the gurantee that SARU will be the ones to get the 16th team come time to renegotiate???

taranki a province in NZ have been making a few waves at the moment about how they would love to be the next team in the spXV. at the moment its nothing but noise, but come 2013 and NZs regular strong showing in the spXV (only club to have everyteam play in the final and had 4 out of 9 teams with 50 or more compeition points in the 2012 spXV) could have them in a strong position to argue that they be the ones to field a team next, especially when looking at the cheetahs and lions.

if cheeky watson thought this to be the case, then would he accept the bribe???
also, if the watsons were not involved with the southern kings, would the majority of u guys support them???

The prolm is not only the R40 000 000 bribe - it goes much further.  The Government will also pump in money and so would the sponsors.   So make it a R100 000 000 altogether.

Next step is also the Eastern Cape is famous for one thing - they have the most famous ability to make money vanish into thin air - so the end result could be a massive looting spree.    Lets wait and see - however, there i one thing evident - every move cooked up by  the Rugby Board will be a massive disaster!!!! 

i reckon cheeky might pull a copperfield and make the money vanish

 I saw, I think on sport 24 a list of current players from EP . Very impressive actually. Now if they were well run, had sponsors and the government did in fact pump money their way it could get interesting.

To avoid all the angst they should have just progessed from wining Vodacom, doing well in the Currie Cup and all this resentment could have been avoided. Demonsatrate you are well run, playing well have funds well managed etc. If the Lions cant match them so be it. 

But if the Lions were well run they also could b ea real force as in the days of Dr Luyt. Top union reputed to be the richest in the world. The sponsors etc are there in Gauteng.

I also think Sasue's point is vital  - indeed what makes anyone think a 16th side would necessarily be a SA side. We can say we are the biggest financial contributors by some way but on a playing level nz have a case. Who, besides ourselves, will support us being specially priviledged and getting another side in the Super Comp? Can the comp grow further and take up even more weeks?  

Tell Watson its R40 million or 4. Also tell him he can play a playoff for a Currie Cup place if queens merit it. Explain the concept of merit to watson.  Trouble is I think watson probably realises there will be no 6th SA side ever and that this is their best chance given the "promises" (What promises were really made seeing that they are stilll going to vote on this and it was stated that no side would lose out). Its now or never for the queens. 

I would love to be a fly on a wall at that meeting. Sparks will fly. After that the lawyers will be set loose!!. What a mess.

@sasuke i heard on the rumours treadmill that they are talking about maybe including some asia and argentina teams to try and commercialise that relevant areas so in any advent south africa can very well include another team but that being said can the quality still be decent enough to be competitve to the other teams that is the real question. the kings has some financial backing from corporate and big firms so they can maybe buy a team and be there or there abouts but the lions and to a lesser extend the cheetahs need more money to increase there depth and be more competitve in the long run. wining the odd game here and there is not enough. the cheetahs could have at lest won another 4 of the close games they lost this season so for them that could also have transformed there current log posistion too. the cheetahs needs to be in super rugby competition but the lions are on the chopping block even if they stay or are axed.

@carpetmuncher,
i have heard similar things about a club made up of players in the pacific nations cup, and argentinain club, but at the moment like the tarankai club, its all noise and at the moment, everything is on the table.
i would say that the smart money is on the kings to be the next team, the drama SARU caused the last time round when they threatened to leave SANZAR, TriNats and super rugby when the rebels were picked over the kings and then the much publicised SARU pushing for a 16th team next year cos of their foot mouth predicament, is probably going to make their SANZAR partners more sympathetic towards their cause.

i also think that melbourne should never have been given the 15th team, the number of kiwi players playing in their comp cos they are unable to secure spXV contracts in NZ has leaped by 80% since 2010 thanks to the australians inability to produce enough spXV level quality players in their own conference.
also despite the easy beats in their team, they still only manage to get one team in the comp and if it wasnt for SARUs insistence that the leader of every conference be granted an automatic top 3 spot, the reds path to the finals would have been down to the wire.