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Cheetahs and Southern Kings could be in Pro12 by September
By Ian Cameron
The BBC are reporting today that Super Rugby franchises the Cheetahs and the Southern Kings could be competing in the Pro12 as early as this September.
Both the Cheetahs and the Southern Kings are expected to be cut from Super Rugby along with at least one Australian franchise.
The South African franchises will learn their fate on July 7th.
However reports from the BBC suggest that they could be integrated into the Pro12 in time for the new season.
What the structure of the new look competition would look like is unclear, but it is speculated that a two conference league could be a solution for an inflated Pro12.
The Pro12 has also held preliminary talks with the German Rugby Union - Deutscher Rugby-Verband (DRV) - about the German national team gaining entry into the league, a move that would appeal to the Pro12 who have made no secret of their desire to expand into new territories and to tap new revenue sources.
When South African rugby stakeholder Tony McKeever revealed in April that he had held discussions with Pro12 CEO Martin Anayi with regards to adding The Cheetahs and Kings to the PRO 12, few took the matter seriously.
However fresh reports today have added fuel to speculation that such a move is both possible and indeed potentially imminent.
The exact logistics of how a Super Rugby franchise based in South Africa – nearly 10,000km away – could compete in a competition based in Europe are also yet to be explained.
It is widely expected that two of South Africa’s Super Rugby franchises – the Southern Kings and the Cheetahs – are to be culled at the end of the season to streamline the current Super Rugby competition.
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Latest Comments
GB is England, Scotland, Wales. They are the 3 constituent countries in Great Britain. Ergo playing only those three countries is a tour of GB. The difference between GB and the UK is Northern Ireland. It's not a huge deal to be accurate and call places by their correct name. But please refrain from your idiotic attempts to BS that GB=UK. It doesn't.
Go to commentsThe 2023 draw was only criticized when it became apparent that the top 5 sides in the world were on the same side of the draw. Nowhere did they discuss the decision to backtrack to 2019 rankings which ensured that England and Wales (ranked #12 in 2023) were ranked top4.
The parties who trashed out the schedule were England Rugby, NZ Rugby and ITV. It is bordering on corrupt that a Rugby nation has the power to schedule its opponents to play a major match the week before facing them in a QF.
You won't find commentary by members of the relevant committees because a committee did not make the scheduling decision. I have never heard members of World Rugby speak out on the draw or scheduling issues.
For example in 2015 Japan were hammered by Scotland 4 days after beating SA. The criticism only happens after a cock up.
A fair pool schedule is pretty straightforward: The lowest two tanked teams must play on last pool day but not against each other. That means that TV can focus on promoting big matches with a Tier2 involved for that Friday.
Why does NZ Always get its preferred slot playing the hardest pool match on day 1?
Why do other teams eg France, Ireland, Scotland get so often scheduled to play a hard match the week before the QFs?
If you believe the rules around scheduling are transparent then please point me in the right direction?
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