With the all new 2016 Super Rugby season approaching at the speed of light, the Southern Kings are still trying to get their ducks in a row. The Southern Kings franchise still needs to announce their elusive sponsorship deal along with their Super Rugby squad and a possible coach.
The Southern Kings took part in the 2013 Super Rugby season under the guidence of astute head coach Alan Solomons, attracting international players like Jaco Engels (Namibia), Virgile Lacombe (France), Tomas Leonardi and Nicolas Vergallo (Argentina), Hadleigh Parkes (New Zealand) with other locals like Bandise Maku, David Bullbring Shaun Venter, Andries Strauss, Waylon Murray and Demetri Catrakillis. After an impressive first round win against the Force and further wins against the Rebels, Highlanders and a draw against the Brumbies in Australia they finished at the bottom of the log.
After losing their spot to the Lions after a promotion/relegation round a huge amount of players and coaches jumped ship and took up contracts elsewhere.
The EP Kings started with a rebuilding fase after their inclusion in an expanded Currie Cup competition in 2014. They appointed New Zealander Carlos Spencer as their head coach, but failed to impress with nine straight defeats as they only picked up one win in their last match against the Pumas.
The union had some joy as their junior teams excelled in their respective age groups as both the Under-21s and Under-19s won their divisions. Unfortunately for the Under-21s they lost to Border in their promotion/relegation match, but the Under-19s won promotion to the A division at the end of the 2013 season. It took the Under-19s two seasons to dominate the A division under the guidance of their coach Mzwandile Stick and team manager Robbi Kempston as they won 13 out of 14 matches, including the final to be crowned the Under-19 Champions for the first time in 2015. The Under-21s won their promotion match in 2014 to join the Under-19s and the Kings in the A division of their respective competitions. Despite a few close results they only picked up one win as they finished at the bottom of the log.
The Kings' second Currie Cup season, under new coach Brent Janse Van Rensburg, showed slight improvements as they pushed some of the bigger unions for 60 odd minutes and picked up wins against the Griquas and an impressive bonus point win against the Cheetahs. Compared the 2014 to 2015 season they scored 215 points compared to last year's 206. They conceded 334 points, 69 less then the 403 from 2014. They conceded 11 tries less than in 2014, but also scored 4 tries less, 23 compared to the 27 they scored in 2014.
With not much improvement in the Currie Cup, the Southern Kings are set to be one of the three new teams to compete in the expanded 18 team format, along with the Argentine Super Rugby team, the Lions and the Sharks in the second African Conference. Set to face the Sharks on 27 February in Port Elizabeth, the Southern Kings have made no mention of any new signings. Despite any official reports from the union, rumours indicate that Pumas' JC Roos, Stefan Watermeyer and Sharks' SP Marais will turn out for the Southern Kings next year. The Kings did however release a list of ten players of which they haven't renewed their contracts. Amongst them are Enrico Acker, Karlo Aspeling, Albe de Swardt, Paul Schoeman and George Whitehead. Schoeman will further his career with the Free State Cheetahs.
Apart from having to compete in the Super Rugby and Currie Cup competitions, what is the union going to do to keep their youngsters? If anything, they need to create a platform for these youngsters to stay at the union and wanting to further their careers at the EP Kings and Southern Kings. What is going to happen to the boys that played in the Under 18-Craven Week final? What will happen to the boys that won the Under-19 Currie Cup Championship? Already one of the most talented youngsters from the province, Curwin Bosch, is on his way to the Sharks following in the footsteps of fellow PE Grey pupil Sergeal Peterson who joined the Cheetahs last year.
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