Secretive SARU have Super options

 

The ongoing debate regarding the Southern Kings’ entry into Super Rugby appears to be no closer to being resolved, although the matter was discussed at a meeting between representatives of the five current franchises and SARU in Johannesburg on Monday.

 

SARU CEO, Jurie Roux, said: "It was a very positive meeting and we now have a number of options for participation on which the franchises are agreed. Those options will go to the Executive Committee for consideration and ultimately to the General Council for a decision."

 

The SARU Exco had proposed that only the top four teams in the South African conference at the end of the 2012 competition join the Kings as the South African representatives in the 2013 competition.

 

However, the existing franchises have been unhappy that one of them – at this stage the bottom-placed Lions – should make way for the Kings and have been involved in protracted discussions with SARU officials – going back to February.

 

While SARU have stuck by their promise that the Kings would be involved in 2013, the question of how that can be accomplished has still not been answered.

 

The bottom placed side being automatically relegated appears to be one option, although the Lions will fight that ruling to the bitter end.

 

There have also been reports that a promotion/relegation match should be played, but the Kings are unlikely to be interested in that option, as they will stand firm behind the promise of participation and won't want to leave anything to chance.

 

Talks of the Cheetahs and Lions combining as they did when they were the Cats has been mentioned, but neither union is interested in going through that disaster again. Cheetahs boss Harold Verster has come out and said the two franchises won't be joined again, with the distance between Bloemfontein and Johannesburg making the alliance a geographical nightmare.

 

Another option could be to link the Lions with the Bulls, based purely on the fact that Pretoria and Johannesburg aren't too far apart, but the proud rivalry between the two sides makes that union extremely unlikely.

 

By forming a new franchise – with the Lions and Southern Kings joining together – there is an argument that the two weakest teams cold be a little stronger if they joined forces, with the humorous possibility of the new team being called the Lion Kings.

 

SARU's initial plan was to appeal to SANZAR to allow a sixteenth team into the competition, however that has been rebuffed by SANZAR CEO Greg Peters, who explained that the extended 15 team format that started last year has been sold to their broadcast partners and that the format is locked in for a five year contract. Peters confirmed that the format cannot be changed until the 2016 Super Rugby season.

 

No matter which way you look at the problem the fact remains that SARU appear to have painted themselves into a corner, and we will have to wait and see which of their "options" is given the green light.

 

The next meeting of the SARU General Council is scheduled to take place on July 13.