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by Baylion

The Kings in trouble?

March 19, 2013 in Uncategorized

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SARU appointed “a judicial sub-committee will investigate the allegation that the Kings breached Saru’s Super Rugby participation agreement by fielding more than two foreigners against the Chiefs.

According to a Saru press release, in the event of a breach being proved there is a wide range of sanctions available, starting from a caution to a maximum fine of R1-million or a recommendation to the General Council to suspend or expel the offending organisation.

Saru CEO Jurie Roux contacted Kings chairman Cheeky Watson on Tuesday to advise him of the inquiry and caution him against any potential breaches.”
Kings face sanctions

Why is this only being addressed now? This issue has been in the media ever since the Kings named all their foreign players in their extended squad.

According to Beeld this morning a Kings insider claimed that SARU had encouraged the Kings to sign the Argentinians as the IRB and SARU are looking to strengthen Argentinian rugby and based on this they don’t regard these players as “foreign” players.

Typically SARU kept quiet and hoped the issue will fix itself while the Kings “interpreted” the rules the way they want to.

This matter should never have reached this point and wouldn’t have if SARU got their heads out of the sand.

Update: Watson: Pumas are not ‘foreigners’

Watson said: “In the process leading up to the signing of foreign players last year, we were led to believe and even encouraged to sign Argentinean players – who currently participate in the Vodacom Cup as the Pampas – with the understanding that they would not be considered as foreign players, in the same way as Daniel Adongo, who is from Kenya, is not considered a foreign player.
Watson: Pumas are not ‘foreigners’

 

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by Baylion

About “real” foreigners, African foreigners and Argentinian foreigners

March 19, 2013 in Uncategorized

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The question of who qualifies as a foreign player in South African rugby has come to the boil with the Kings naming five foreigners in their extended squad, playing three foreigners against the Sharks, four foreigners against the Chiefs and taking all their foreigners on tour down under.

SARU rules stipulate that a team may only have two foreigners in the Super Rugby squad. The Kings applied for special dispensation to exceed this number but was refused.

After the Kings played Daniel Adongo, Nicolas Vergallo and Hadleigh Parkes against the Kings questions were asked about their infringement of the rules. While SARU, in typical fashion, maintained a deafening silence the media then “explained” that Adongo is not really a foreign player as he is from the African continent. (I’m not sure whether Jaco Engles is a Namibian citizen. He was born in South West Africa when it was under SA administration but went to primary school, high school and university in Potchefstroom)

The Kings then played Tomàs Leonardi, Daniel Adongo, Nicolas Vergallo and Hadleigh Parkes against the Chiefs and, according to the media, SARU then asked the Kings to explain themselves but on Sunday the Kings left on their tour down under with all their foreigners in tow – Virgille Lacombe, Tomàs Leonardi, Daniel Adongo, Nicolas Vergallo and Hadleigh Parkes.

Now, in another twist, Beeld reports that the Argentinians, like African players, are not “real” foreigners as the IRB and SARU are trying to improve Argentinian rugby and that SARU had approved the use of Argentinians by the Kings and had actually encouraged the Kings to sign their Argentinians.

Cheeky Watson, in typical politician double-talk: “We are not deliberately trying to go against them (SARU), but we do feel that the interpretation of the term ‘foreign players’ is open for debate,”

Therefore, the only “real” foreigners in the Kings squad are the Kiwi Parkes and the Frenchman Lacombe.

Buitelanders: Nuwe kinkel in sage oor Kings

Why was this cloak of silence cast over the issue rather than being open and upfront about it?

Why was the issue allowed to drag on for months without clear answers?

Once again SARU, in their typical softcocked manner, maintained their silence throughout all the media speculations in the hope that the issue will not be questioned and will just go away.

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by Baylion

Lions vs Kings – the jury is still out

February 10, 2013 in Uncategorized

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In front of 19000 spectators, the biggest crowd of the Lions Challenge so far, the Lions beat the Kings 41-31.

Supporters of both teams will read into the match result whatever they want but the Lions cannot be happy with they way the lost focus in the second half after leading 27-7. Whether it was due to the Kings fighting back, the spate of replacements that were sent on or some other reason, the Lions tendency to “take a break” for about 20 minutes per game has been a worry for a long time now and on Saturday it nearly resulted in an embarrassing loss.

All credit to the Kings for fighting back and taking their chances and congratulations to the Lions for sticking it out and pulling off a win.

“What matters isn’t how well you play when you’re playing well. What matters is how well you play when you’re playing badly.”  – Martina Navratilova

For the Lions the second half was a wake-up call – you cannot relax for 20 minutes in a game and expect to win the crucial games.

On the plus side, the Lions scrums, lineouts, rucks and mauls worked well and they totally outplayed the Kings in those departments but, considering the talented players in the backline, it is disturbing that they couldn’t score a single backline try.

On the negative side, letting in a spate of soft tries after doing all the hard graft and you have your opponents on the rack is inexcusable, even if a number of replacements are sent on which disturbs the flow. Replacement players should fit in to the onfield structures and not disrupt your game but enhance it. The Lions coaches will also not be happy with the number of handling errors and basic mistakes made on the day.

Would this Lions team have beaten a full strength Kings side? The point is moot, I know, but I think the Lions would still have dominated the set pieces and would, hopefully, have kept their focus better as there wouldn’t have been all the replacements to disrupt cohesion. But we’ll have to wait for July to get the answer.

The Lions have a five week break before taking on French bottom of the log club, Mont de Marsan, in March. Indications from the Lions coaching staff are that the Lions players will be used only sparingly in Vodacom Cup matches so they will remain focused on their preparation for the July knockout games.

During the next five weeks a number of injured players will get back onto the training fields and the squad, barring injuries during training, should be near full strength in time for their next match.

New injuries: Ross Cronje (broken thumb), Alwyn Hollenbach (hamstring)

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by Baylion

Lions team for the Kings game

February 7, 2013 in Uncategorized

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The Lions announced their team and made some interesting changes. Marnitz Boshoff starts at #15 with regular fullback, Andries Coetzee on the wing while young lock, JJ Breet, replaces injured Willie Britz at the side of the scrum. With Bondesio injured Ross Cronje starts again behind the scrum and injury returnee, Whestley Moolman, gets the backup spot on the bench and is joined there by Dylan Des Fountain, another returning from injury.

Lions: 15 Marnitz Boshoff, 14 Andries Coetzee, 13 Stokkies Hanekom, 12 Alwyn Hollenbach, 11 Anthony Volmink, 10 Lionel Cronje, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Derick Minnie, 7 JJ Breet, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Franco Mostert , 4 Hendrik Roodt, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Francois du Toit, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg(c).

Replacements: 16 Robbie Coetzee, 17 Jacques van Rooyen, 18 Gavin Annandale, 19 Warwick Tecklenburg, 20 Whestley Moolman, 21 Deon Helberg, 22 Ruhan Nel, 23 Dylan des Fountain

Southern Kings:15 Elric van Vuuren, 14 Marcello Sampson, 13 Wayne Stevens, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Siyanda Grey, 10 Wesley Dunlop, 9 Johan Herbst, 8 Jacques Engelbrecht, 7 Mpho Mbiyozo, 6 Rynier Bernado, 5 Darron Nell (captain), 4 Tomas Leonardi, 3 Grant Kemp, 2 Boetie Britz, 1 Lizo Gqoboko.

Replacements:16 Dane van der Westhuizen, 17 Khwezi Mkhafu, 18 Ross Geldenhuys, 19 Daniel Adongo, 20 Thabo Mamojelle, 21 Scott Mathie, 22 George Whitehead, 23 Scott van Breda.

Lions stats:

Ave age: 23.57
Total provincial caps: 761
Total Super Rugby caps: 176
Total Bok caps: 0

Kings stats:

Ave age: 24.61
Total provincial caps: 860
Total Super Rugby caps: 37
Total International caps: 13

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by Baylion

The Foreign Kings no more

October 5, 2012 in Uncategorized

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For once the SARU EXCO showed some guts and denied the Southern Kings the use of more than two foreign players. This means that they will have to make do with the two they already have, Clint Newland and Paul Perez.

Could this be because they

  1. lied about the Lions refusing them players, and
  2. tried to force SARU’s hand by signing extra foreigners before their request was approved?

http://www.rugby365.com/article/49992-saru-turn-down-kings-request

I know I’m being petty but I must say that this news makes my evening just a tad better.

 

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by Baylion

Adding to the Foreign Kings woes

September 27, 2012 in Uncategorized

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The latest news is that it is rumoured that  the Kings will be allowed only six foreign players but that they will be required to change their name to the Foreign Kings to accurately reflect the demographics of their team.

They will also be required to hand over their franchise to the Argentinians when SANZAR officially approves Argentina’s participation in Super Rugby from 2016.

And to add to their misery of not being able to recruit more foreigners another Eastern Cape boytjie has joined the Springbok ranks in recent weeks.

Cheeky Watson was seen roaming the corridors of the Kings’ Palace mumbling, “If we had been in Super Rugby sooner we could have stopped Johan Goosen from going to Grey College and he would have been in our team now”.

In an interview later Cheeky Watson was asked if this recruitment of players from outside the region, and foreign players to boot, doesn’t contradict the Kings objectives of regional development and transformation. He replied, “Not at all. You see, once these players move to the Eastern Cape they will be from this region and that qualifies as regional development. As to transformation, all these players will be declared honorary blacks and will be given Xhosa names so we will, in fact, be fielding an all black team.”