THURSDAY, 12.30PM:
THE South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) executive on Wednesday voted again on its proposed regional Super 12 plan, with the latest incarnation angering the Free State.
Free State Rugby Union president Harold Verster claims Wednesday’s decision is to the detriment of the Free State. He said it requires Northern Transvaal and not Free State to be bracketed with Gauteng Lions. Verster said there is more geographical legitimacy for a Pretoria-Johannesburg link than travelling from Bloemfontein, 500km away.
“We have been hung out to dry in a trade-off with the other provinces. Our executive will meet on Thursday morning to consider our situation in the light of what happened,” said Verster. “But I can tell you this has plunged Free State rugby into deep trouble.”
Wednesday’s meeting followed last Friday’s court ruling that prevented Sarfu from going ahead with implementation of its planned four Super 12 regions — North, Central, Coast and Cape — until it had been ratified at the annual meeting in November.
The provinces will meet with their regional partners on the Super 12 plan soon, and at the end of September the executive will meet again to obtain feedback, after which the proposal will be formulated for the annual general meeting.