SARrugby.com

Good on ou Cheeky.  Ex keo

Cheeky Watson says the Kings will accept Saru’s decision on their Super Rugby foreign player allowance as the region has been ‘fraught with challenges’.

This was in response to an article in the Rapport newspaper on Sunday suggesting that the Kings’ request to allow them more than two foreign players in Super Rugby has been rejected by Saru. The decision was reportedly made at a meeting on Friday, with an official announcement expected on Monday.

The EPRFU president gave the following statement to Rugby15:

‘The Southern Kings have not received any official confirmation from SA Rugby [Saru] on this matter as yet, but we have no reason to disbelieve the report.

‘If this is the case, we will accept and abide by the decision of SA Rugby. We know that the region has never been fed with a silver spoon, and have no reason to expect any different going into our debut Super Rugby season. (Oh boy these oaks think they got their spot on their own mewrits. Amzing how deluded on can get)

‘The path for this region to get a Super Rugby franchise has been fraught with challenges, and yet, despite all the odds, we have overcome them and Super Rugby is a reality, with our first game against Western Force less than a month away.

‘We accept that this opportunity comes from a loaded deck of cards, but the bigger the challenge, the bigger the task, the bigger the team and the overall success. (Just listen to this! )

‘We will not be releasing any of our foreign players, however, as there are still ample opportunities within our structures for them to contribute.’

The Kings begin their Super Rugby tournament against the Force in Port Elizabeth on 23 February.

Kings Super Rugby squad:

Forwards: Boetie Britz, Rynier Bernardo, David Bullbring, Kevin Buys, Cornell du Preez, Jacques Engelbrecht, Jaco Engels, Schalk Ferreira, Ross Geldenhuys, Lizo Gqoboka, Virgil Lacombe, Tomas Leonardi, Bandise Maku, Edgar Marutlulle, Mpho Mbiyozo, Darron Nell, Daniel Adongo, Devin Oosthuizen, Steven Sykes, Wimpie van der Walt, Luke Watson (captain)

Backs: Demetri Catrakilis, Ronnie Cooke, Wesley Dunlop, Siyanda Grey, Johan Herbst, Michael Killian, SP Marais, Scott Mathie, Waylon Murray, Hadleigh Parkes, Sergeal Petersen, Marcello Sampson, Shakes Soyizwapi, Wayne Stevens, Andries Strauss, Elrich van Vuuren, Shaun Venter, Nicolas Vergallo, George Whitehead

This is again the type of crap Cheeky Watson is spreading.  The answer is that nobody would oppose the inclusion of the Southern Kings to play In Super 15 if the decision was based on meritorious performance.   Problem is the team could not get into the Premier Division of the CC on merit and if they fail to do just that - how the hell are they going to be successful in a higher level like Super 15?

The real silver spoon issue is a joke.   Umlike other franchises they got a R40 000 000 grant from SARU and the Government is pumping in taxpayers money to help them along.   Talking of silver spoons - if those are not golden spoons I don't know what is.

The cherry on the top was that in their original application to SARU they use the motivation of rugby devlopment in the local Black community and the ultilization of that as a means to enhance rugby development - then they turned around and start recruiting foreign players.  Question is - how is the usage of foreign players going to enhance their argument on development of local players?   

In thir heart-of-hearts SARU knew the inclusion of the Queens in Super 15 as a result of political pressure can never work and that the inclusion would be counter-productive and will disgrace SA Rugby in the relevant contest..   That is why they included a provision for qualification games in future and why they now blocked the foreign player request.

It looks like the SA Franchise teams will each pick up 40 log points from the arrangement - and that is why it may benefit them in overall log position - but that is another issue altogether.and there is no doubt that the New Zealand and Australian teams in the compeititon would scream murder about it.    

the easy championship points that the other SA teams will get from the kings is nothing, the lions and cheetahs have really never been that much better since forever, but all that aside, theres a lot of merit to what watson is saying.

we all know the kings are the 2013 easy beats, but this is a franchise in its debut year who if they should finish last in their conference, face a relegation match against the lions.
how the hell does any team in one season be expected to deliver results under such circumstances???
what makes it worse is that situation makes recruting difficult given that players wont want to associate themselves with a club who might not even be around the following year.

as a true neutral looking in, there is massive potential for SARU to capatlise on the coloureds and black demographs in the region and do something about the strong hold that boring soccer holds.
they need to give the kings at least 4 years before starting with this whole relegation BS, i mean they gave the lions over a decade of medicority where they pulled of an astonishing 5 wooden spoons and were wooden spoon runner ups in another 5 years with the one exception where they finished 3rd last, for over a decade of unbelievle performances which SARU are bending over backwrds to get back into the comp.
pffft, yeah right.

 

 Sas makes a point. Lions have showed little as well so cant be too bad. All Lions really do is try up their ante for derby games and cant lift to that standard against foreign opposition. Like last year, they played the game of their lives against the Sharks..Why dont they help the other SA franchises out by lifting against overseas opposition in the back end of the comp..

Sasue

I agree with you about he enhancement of rugby as a sport in the Black community in SA.   However, there are numerous problems in the relevant regard that should be solved at school level - the main ones  of those is that in the average SA schools -

*   there is very little of a sport culture in evidence in most SA schools and this problem is enhanced  by  lack of interest by teaching staff that could play a roll in basic coaching; and

*   the above applies to most codes of sport and the results in sport development of pupils to cater for future professional sport is minimal.

The main source of rugby, cricket. athletics and swimming comes from a limited number of major schools with a strong emphasis on sport.    There are I would say not more than 30 high schools in SA that provide the over-whelming core of athletes in all sports codes.   One problem is that these schools do not cater much for the development of soccer as a sport - the ltter coode is largely dependent on the average Government school as a source for professional players.   The result is that South Africa is very low-rated in soccer and although there is a very wide interest from the Black Community in the game - the results shows that the quality of players coming through the school system is not acceptable.

The problem  is further illustrated by the fact that the actual Black players that come through in rugby and cricket in fact came through one of the major sport schools as well.

I at one stage tried to start a campaign to facilitate the estblishment of special sport schools and start with one such school per province - especially catering for Black children who shows a capacity for development as future professionals - and to ensure that youngsters receive a sound grounding in sport and sport development - in decent coaching and provision of sound dietary provisions as well as the necessary training equipment.   However, the program was doomed - because nobody was really interested - it was much easier for the politicos to insist on inclusion in the National teams of less-capable players - the others would have been in the team on merit in any event - than to take the more difficult route of development of sport from school level through to the stage where children can become professional sportsmen or women competing on international level.

I for one think that the idea of using the Kings in rugby development for the relevant purpose is really doomed to failure and the Government - if they are really interested - should start with a different kind of programme that will ultimately lead to major success..    

@mikey,

big ups on trying to set up a special school sports, the grass roots rugby is really where it all begins and its the efforts of parents andlike minded  individuals such as urself that keep this sport ticking over, at least it is in NZ/SA.

i am quite shocked at ur comment about how u say maybe no more than 30 schools provide the core of atheletes in ALL codes??? o_O
whil i dont know the numbers exactly, i know that in NZ and OZ its definately not that isolated, its very evenly spread thorughout the country, especially in australia where unions is the 4th ranked sport in the country and under serious threat from being over taken by soccer.

in regards to the coloured and black kids, do u think that players like beast and habana would attract support both publically and on a sponsorship level???
i remember chester williams having a huge effect on the couloured kids at the time of the 95 RWC and something similar might be rewuired???
u could always hire some All Blacks stras to come obver, cos i knwo the coloured and black community loves our boys, LMAO, :oP

Sasue

There are indeed a limited number of schools in SA with a major impact on sports development.   I can think about the following:-

*    Western Province  -   Paul Roos, Paarl High, Paarl Gym, Bishops, Tygerberg

*   South Western Districts  -    Outeniqua, Oakdale

*    Eatern Province and Border -   Greys, St Andrews

*    KwaZulu-Natal  -  Michaelhouse, Durban High, Hilton, Kearsney. Maritzburg College

*    Free State  - Grey College

*    Gauteng  -   KES, Jeppe High,  Pretoria High, Waterkloof, Menlo Park,  Afrikaans (Affies) Centurion

*    Mpumalanga - Nelspruit. Ermelo

*    Limpopo  -  Pietersburg

*    Noth West :   Rustenburg 

There may be other schools to be added to the above list - but those are in fact to my mind the top sports schools in SA   

You only have to look at the SA Schools Rugby Team to get an idea of the real situation on the ground:-

SA Schools Starting XV:

15. Jesse Kriel (Maritzburg College) 14. Sergeal Petersen (Grey PE) 13. Warrick Gelant (Outeniqua) 12. Rohan Janse van Rensburg (Waterkloof) 11. Duhan van der Merwe (Outeniqua) 10. Handre Pollard (Paarl Gym, captain) 9. Justin Phillips (Waterkloof) 8. Aidon Davis (HTS Daniel Pienaar) 7. Jean-Luc du Preez (Kearsney College) 6. Thabo Mabuza (Centurion) 5. Nicholas Janse van Rensburg (Affies, vice-captain) 4. John-Dave Schickerling (Paarl Gym) 3. Dayan van der Westhuizen (Centurion) 2. Malcolm Marx (King Edward) 1. Ox Nche (Louis Botha)
Replacements 16. Chad Solomon (Paul Roos) 17. Pierre Schoeman (Affies) 18. Wilco Louw (HTS Drostdy) 19. Gideon Koegelenberg (Hugenote) 20. Akhona Sihunu (Dale College) 21. Ryno Eksteen (Affies) 22. Sandile Kubeka (Kearsney College) 23. Jano Venter (HTS Middelburg

The selection of playes from outside of the above schools is rare.   You will notice some comments on the Stormers player De Allende.  He did not come through a major sport school and was never in the Under 20 set-up - so nobody really knew about him until he popped up as a WP player in CC level.   

The other issue is that when you look at Coulered and Black sportsmen coming through - you would often enough find that they went through one of the schools listed above.   All of the above schools ae still attended by predominantly White Children and some are private schools.  Soccer is not really a major sport in any of the relevant schools - with the result that soccer players have to come from the other High Schools in SA - and that to my mind account for the poor level of performance by SA in that code of sport.   

There are major social problems in most of the other schools - and there are various factors that limit sport in those schools.  A major problem is the lack of really dedicated teachers that could provide leadershipin sports development - the quality of teachers at the majority of schools is poor and any efforts to improve efficiency is fiercely resisted by the Trade Union involved.   

There van be no doubt that interest in rugby is high in the Coloured community and there is substantial interest in rugby in the Eastern Province as well.    When SA sports teams do well in Rugby - like in the WC of 2007 - hundreds of thousands of Black SA celebrate the event in the streets - so there is a real latent interest in rugby throughout SA - but that interest is not properly optimized and turned into reality in the schools chldren attends.

I have spoken and written to some politicos and they agreed with me on the issue - but the responsibility actually rests with the Government in liaison with the private sector and the Sports Governing Bodies,   In dealing with the issue I stressed the impact such programmes have had  on sports development in China as an example.   However, it seems to me that the Government as a whole is not really interested in any process of the relevant nature.  .