Southern Kings

Southern Kings

Full name	Southern Kings
Union	South African Rugby Union
Founded	2009
Location	Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Region	Eastern Cape Province
Ground(s)	Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium (Capacity: 48,459)
President	Cheeky Watson
Director of Rugby	Vacant
Coach(es)	Robbi Kempson (caretaker)
Captain(s)	Luke Watson
Most caps	Jacques Engelbrecht (19)
Top scorer	Demetri Catrakilis (151)
Most tries	Siyanda Grey / Wimpie van der Walt (6)
League(s)	Super Rugby
2013	15th (Relegated)
1st kit 2nd kit
Official website
www.skings.co.za
Current season

The Southern Kings are a rugby union team based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa who competed in the 2013 Super Rugby competition. The creation of the team was formally announced at the opening of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on 16 June 2009, in time to coincide with the 2009 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa.

The Kings' catchment area is made up of the Eastern Cape and parts of the Western Cape. They draw players from 3 provincial unions, namely the Eastern Province Kings, based in Port Elizabeth (representing the southern half of the Eastern Cape), the Border Bulldogs, based in East London (representing the northern half of the Eastern Cape) and the SWD Eagles, based in George (representing the South Western Districts).

History

Southern Spears

In 2005, there was an attempt to bring a Super Rugby side to the Eastern Cape Province in the form of the Southern Spears, who were intended to participate in the Super 14 from 2007 onwards; however, their proposed entry into the competition led to considerable controversy within the country's rugby establishment. In April 2006, after concerns over the team's financial stability and sporting competitiveness, the Spears were denied entry into the Super 14. Following this, the Southern Spears ceased to exist.

Formation

In January 2009, SARU announced that a new franchise in the Eastern Cape Province would be launched in June of that year to coincide with the arrival of the British and Irish Lions in Port Elizabeth for one of their midweek tour matches.^[1] The franchise was launched with the goal of a future place in Super Rugby, but no timetable was initially set. The President of the Eastern Province, Cheeky Watson, said "There is a desperate hunger for top-flight rugby in the South Eastern Cape and this is the first step to satisfying it." The franchise was officially announced on the SARU website in April 2009.^[2]

First fixtures

The played their first ever match against the British and Irish Lions on 16 June 2009, losing 8–20 to the Lions.^[3] The team's first points were scored by Jaco van der Westhuyzen and their first try was scored by Mpho Mbiyozo.

They also played in the 2011 IRB Nations Cup, where they participated as the South African Kings. They won all three their games, beating Georgia, Romania and Portugal on their way to winning the competition.^[4]

2013 Super Rugby season

They applied to gain a place in Super Rugby from 2011 in the Australian conference. However, on 12 November 2009, SANZAR arbitrators rejected their bid to join Super Rugby, awarding the 15th licence to the Melbourne Rebels.

On 27 January 2012, SARU confirmed that they would participate in the 2013 Super Rugby season.^[5] Initially, no decision was made as to how they will be accommodated, but on 16 August 2012, it was confirmed that they would take part at the expense of the Lions.^[6]

They made their Super Rugby on 23 February 2013 season, when they played in a second round match against Australian side the Force at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.^[7] The Kings won the game 22–10, with Sergeal Petersen scoring two tries and Demetri Catrakilis contributing twelve points with the boot. They also held eventual Australian Conference winners the Brumbies to a 28–all draw in Canberra, beat the Rebels in Melbourne and the Highlanders in Port Elizabeth, but finished bottom of the South African Conference and had to play promotion/relegation play-off matches against the Lions.

The Lions beat the Kings 26–19 in Port Elizabeth^[8] and the Kings emerged victorious in Johannesburg, winning 23–18.^[9] With the teams being level on log points, the Lions' overall 44–42 points difference saw the Lions return to Super Rugby in 2014 at the expense of the Kings.^[10]

Following the end of the 2013 Super Rugby season, on 30 July, it was announced that Director of Rugby Alan Solomons was leaving the Kings to take up the role of Head Coach of Edinburgh Rugby.^[11] Then on 15 December, Head Coach Matt Sexton also announced that he was leaving the Kings so that he could return to his home country New Zealand.^[12]

Fixtures and results

Results per opposition

The Southern Kings full playing record against other teams are:

Results per competition

The Southern Kings full playing record in all competitions are:

Players

Current Squad

Siyanda Grey in action for the South African Kings in the 2011 IRB Nations Cup

The Kings squad for the 2013 Super Rugby season:^[13]

Denotes team captain, Denotes that a player is unavailable due to injury, Bold denotes player is internationally capped.

Player Statistics

The Southern Kings player statistics are:

Internationally Capped Players

Player	Rugby Union	Cap No	Tests	Points	Other Matches	Years Active
Jaco Engels	Namibia		0	(0)		2013–
Tomás Leonardi	Argentina	673	18	(20)		2008–
Bandise Maku	South Africa	811	1	(0)	3	2010
Waylon Murray	South Africa	785	3	(0)	1	2007
Andries Strauss	South Africa	827	0	(0)	1	—
Nicolás Vergallo	Argentina	654	33	(0)		2005–
Luke Watson	South Africa	786	10	(0)	0	2007–2008

Staff

Records

Super Rugby records (updated 13 July 2013):

See also

• Border Bulldogs
• Eastern Province Kings
• SWD Eagles

References

External links

• Official website
• Official Facebook page
• Official Twitter account
• Southern Kings on superxv.com