If the Lions didn’t know it already, they do now: they’re on the brink of losing their Super Rugby status.
The Joburg-based team have six games left to try to hang onto Super Rugby participation ... and failure to win those games will probably see them stood down by the SA Rugby Union, in favour of the Southern Kings next year.
This much was made clear on Friday by Saru, who already in January this year proposed that the Kings would join the top four SA Conference teams in the Super Rugby competition next year.
Right now the team in fifth place – and in danger of “going down” – are the Lions, who have won just once in 10 outings. A whopping 12 points and three wins better off are the fourth-placed Cheetahs.
So if the Lions are to be in next year’s competition they’ll probably have to win all six of their remaining games and hope the Cheetahs slip up badly. As things stand, the Lions face a tough few weeks – they’ve still got two matches overseas – though the Cheetahs are by no means home and dry.
Their remaining matches are against the Stormers (today, away), Sharks (home), Waratahs (home), Bulls (away), Stormers (home) and Sharks (away). The Sharks, Stormers and Bulls are unlikely to finish last and won’t be affected by whatever decision is made.
But whether it’s the Lions or Cheetahs that go down, the franchises themselves will have to accept blame ... unless, of course, they can come up with an alternative to the last-placed team being relegated.
According to Saru, who re-affirmed at an executive council meeting on January 27 that the Kings would play in Super Rugby next year, the current five franchises requested that a decision on the mechanism for qualification be postponed to give them time to make alternative proposals. The general meeting accepted the request and Saru CEO Jurie Roux asked for it to be recorded that the delay in a decision was at the franchises’ request.
It is understood that, to date, no franchise has provided an alternative to Saru about the mechanism to be used to determine which of the six franchises will play in the five-team SA Conference next year.
In late February the franchises proposed that they and members of Saru should meet with Sanzar to try to persuade them to expand the competition to allow six SA teams in Super Rugby, but the talks did not take place and are not scheduled soon. Sanzar CEO Greg Peters has said there is no chance of the competition being expanded next year.
“Rugby has been consistently united in supporting the Kings’ place in Super Rugby next year,” Roux said on Friday. “Our focus has been on finding a rugby answer to the questions that flows from that decision that’s fair, transparent in its mechanism and will strengthen South African rugby in the long run. Those discussions continue.”
On Thursday next week franchise representatives and members of the Saru exco will meet for further discussions and a final decision for next year is likely to be taken at a Saru general council meeting on July 13.
Meanwhile, Sport Minister Fikile Mbalula, said in his department’s budget vote in Parliament on Friday that it was important that SA Rugby urgently found an amicable solution as the cloud of uncertainty and anxiety was “weighing heavily on the players and franchises.” – Saturday Star