The South African Rugby Union have confirmed that the Southern Kings will participate in the 2013 Super Rugby competition but have added that their inclusion will not be at the expense of one of the existing teams.
SARU reassured the South African Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Sport on Tuesday that the Kings will play in Super Rugby from 2013 but have yet to explain how this can be done.
A delegation of the leadership of the South African Rugby Union (SARU) made a scheduled appearance before the committee to discuss a number of issues, including the Southern Kings.
SANZAR who manage Super Rugby have ruled out further expansion to the Super Rugby format before 2013 leaving South Africa with six Super Rugby teams and five places.
Relegation has been discussed in the media but SARU’s statement rules out relegation as that would mean that one Super Rugby team would lose their place which will cost a team millions and could force them into bankruptcy.
“The Kings will play in the competition in 2013, but not at the expense of one of the other franchises,” Jurie Roux, the CEO of SARU, told the committee.
“Resolving that part of the equation is the issue at hand and we have a number of proposals to take to the Exco (Executive Council) and ultimately to the General Council for a decision in July.”
As SARU have not explained how they will get six teams into five places their statement makes little sense as even if they merge two existing Super Rugby that would cost at least one of the teams their identity.
SARU’s statement leads one to believe that they have come up with a formula that will re-invent mathematics as currently six does not go into five.
