In limbo: Daniel Adongo
SARU have turned down the Kings' request to include more than two foreign players in their Super Rugby squad.
Earlier this year, the Eastern Cape franchise, who start the season as title outsiders with those who like sports betting (click here to view) named a 40-man squad including five foreigners (French hooker Virgil Lacombe, Argentinean duo Nicolas Vergallo and Tomas Leonardi, New Zealand full-back Hadleigh Parkes and Kenyan utility forward Daniel Adongo).
Kings officials were, at that point, adamant that SARU would bend the rules and allow South Africa's newest franchise to field all five players.
But according to Rapport, SARU have rejected the Kings' request - meaning the tournament newbies will now only be allowed to play two foreigners in the upcoming competition
"We will accept and abide by the decision of SA Rugby," said Kings president Cheeky Watson.
"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
"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.
"We will not be releasing any of our foreign players, however, as there are still ample opportunities within our structures for them to contribute."
Comments
APV1 says...
Didn't the Rebels have some form of dispensation and lee-way? What's the difference?
Posted 11:44 05th February 2013
Ben7 says...
@ABasquefan You obviously don't understand SA politics. The only reason that they've joined is in order to introduce more black players to top level rugby. It has nothing to do with giving the other SA teams a bigger chance. In the past all the teams would gain full points from the lions anyway so what's the difference.
Stop being a whinging Kiwi
Posted 21:14 29th January 2013
5Lock4ward says...
If I'm one of the foreign players who signed on thinking I was going to play Super Rugby and I don't make the actual Super Rugby squad I'm telling them to stick their other opportunities to contribute within the structure of the union up their arse and light the free end on fire.
Posted 01:23 29th January 2013
ABasquefan says...
letsgoboks,
I didn't say anything about conspiracy. I said that the SARU forced to introduce a new franchise and that they don't let them build a team. Those are FACTS. The SARU did them and doinig them they are favouring the big SA teams and watering the comp down. Where's the conspiracy? I didn't say that they did all this on purpose, I just said what they did. I know that politics are in there but I don't care about it, I just care about the result and this is an adulteration of the SR comp.
Posted 17:37 28th January 2013
letsgoboks says...
ABasquefan - and just to make it clear. I don't think it's fair on the NZ and Oz confrences that the top three SA sides get an adv of thrashing the Kings. The whole thing is a farce!
Posted 13:50 28th January 2013
letsgoboks says...
ABasquefan - this has nothing to do with the conspiracy theory you have of getting the other big teams through. This is all down to politics. It has nothing to do with rugby at all. Cheeky Watson has forced his race card and pushed his team through which ultimately has not many coloured players in it as he had first campaigned about.
Posted 13:48 28th January 2013
JayStarr says...
Yes, your first Super Rugby game is less than a month away... And your last Super Rugby game is about 7 months away.
Posted 06:23 28th January 2013
BradS says...
Surely a new team should be afforded a few more foreign players in their first season? Judging by the decision they have made, SARU do not appear to be interested in seeing the Kings as a long term super rugby franchise?
Posted 02:27 28th January 2013
ABasquefan says...
What SARU is doing is a complete disgrace. They forced to introduce a new franchise and now they don't let them build a team. The SARU is watering the competition down and openly favouring and giving advantage to the big saffa teams, Stormers, Sharks and Bulls. The conference system was already unfair but now is a joke, a very bad joke.
With the team they have, the Kings are going to lose every single match and they are going to do it conceding a 4 try-bonus point each time. While the saffa teams gonna play twice against them (10 easy points) there gonna be teams, Reds and Blues, which don't play against them and the rest of the kiwi and aussie teams wil play once (5 points).
10 poits was last year's difference btwin the 1st and the 8th, btwin classifying for the finals with home advantage or not classifying. Being the home advantage so important in the SR comp that's to adulterate the comp.
Posted 01:01 28th January 2013
FISH says...
i hope the kings get annihilated in every game
Posted 21:11 27th January 2013