Super XV 2013: The Eastern Province Kings Fiasco continues...

In August of this year the EP Kings were told they will be competing in the Super XV as of 2013. The Lions therefor has been kicked out and with no alternative optional competition in place will be relegated to compete in the Vodacom Cup (the third tier provincial competition in SA)

This has meant that the Lions players not contracted for next year, or who have an escape clause in their contracts could sign either on loan or on full contracts for alternative clubs/Fanchises.

Some like Josh Strauss (Glasgow Warriors) have already made the move overseas and others with escape clauses such as Elton Jantjies and Jaco Taute are in negotiations to join the Sharks or Stormers. A number have also signed to join the Bulls from next year.

So needless to say the situation for the Lions are about as dire as you could expect considering their financial woes to boot.

But what about the Kings?

This weekend he EP Kings played their away promotion and relegation match against the Cheetahs who came bottom of the log in the Premiership Currie Cup division, the Kings having beaten the Pumas 26-25 in the 1st Division Currie Cup has earned the right to vie for a position in the Premeir division for next year.

It isn’t really the result that is what the Kings should worry about, but rather the manner in which they lost. The cheetahs missing a plethora of their Super XV players due to injury and movements up north demolished the EP Kings by 53-14, scoring 8 tries to 2. It took only 40 minutes for the Cheetahs to score their bonus point try and even though the Kings had a good start to the second half scoring two quick tries, they were never in it.

The Cheetahs won the collisions, the scrums, the line outs and possession stakes.

In fact I doubt there were any areas or statistics that the Kings won.

So now onto the super XV for next year. Even though the Kings are desperately seeking a number of high quality players to boost their ranks for next year it is undoubtedly too late for them to even consider being competitive next year.

The harsh reality is they were totally outplayed by a Cheetah team nowhere near full strength and I fear the results in the Super XV will be rather one sided if not a tad embarrassing, not only for them, but for SA rugby as a whole.

There have been some other issues touched on by journalists since the match on Friday, such as where are the players of colour that was served for the political backing of their inclusion?

The starting line up for Friday night had one, yes only one player of colour. There are now journalists suggesting SARU should have an inquiry as to what happened to the grass roots development in the Eastern Province. It is true that some who have been developed there may have moved on to more profitable careers elsewhere, but it still does not justify only one player of colour.

Be that as it may, the reality of the situation is the Kings will be out of their depth come 201 Super XV, once again the Conference system will benefit the other 4 Super Franchises from South Africa as they should collect two wins each with try bonus points a stark reality in both matches.

I am all for the inclusion of Eastern Province in any form to join the super XV, but not the way in which it has come to pass.

Either SARU must use Franchises (independent of the Currie Cup Provinces) which means the location of the Franchises is effectively transferrable to alternative stadiums, or They must have the top five Provinces (according to the Currie Cup Premier division log) compete in the Super XV.

This whole process has not only hurt the Lions Franchise, but will do a lot of damage to The EP Kings.

In my view, transferring the Lions Franchise to Eastern Province and incorporating their players into the squad in a two or three year period would have been more beneficial to both regions concerned.

Perhaps it will be prudent for SARU to reassess their structures when it comes to Super Rugby and consider the consequences of their decisions.

On the other hand 10 guaranteed points for the other SA teams so there's a bright side to everything.

Does make a farce out of the system though.

I see there's been some talk about the Lions joining in the Heineken Cup...

Any thoughts on that Biltong?

Yappy, from what I heard the timing of the announcement was too late for the Lions to arrange anything for next year.

Half their players are leaving because of this anyway.

This whole Kings story is a joke, which would be a lot more funny if it wasn't so annoying. The more I hear about Cheeky Watson, the more I reckon SA rugby would be better off if he got involved in Soccer.

Biltong you are a stats man.

Would you be able to tell us roughly were all the s15 players come from. You could break it down into the six regions.

I know the cheatahs have a lot of players that get produced and then move on to the bigger teams.

Over the existence of the Southern Kings how many players have they produced that made it into S15.

Surely the SARU would have seen how much/little work the Southern kings were doing both in general player development and in developing rugby more among coloured players.

I have seen the rise in numbers of coloured players in SA Super teams and I am guessing that the knigs are doing no better then the other regions are in growing rugby among coloured people.

I know there are white black and coloured players but is there an indian players in the S15 in SA