{"id":17604,"date":"2013-01-28T06:36:24","date_gmt":"2013-01-28T04:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/southern-kings-respond-to-aikona-cheeky\/"},"modified":"2013-01-28T06:36:24","modified_gmt":"2013-01-28T04:36:24","slug":"southern-kings-respond-to-aikona-cheeky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/southern-kings-respond-to-aikona-cheeky\/","title":{"rendered":"Southern Kings respond to \u2018Aik\u00f4na, Cheeky\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Following the article that appeared in the Rapport this morning, which states that SA Rugby have dismissed the Southern Kings<\/a> request to field more than two foreign players, President Cheeky Watson stated the following.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Southern Kings<\/a> have not received any official confirmation from SA Rugby on this matter as yet, but we have no reason to disbelieve the report.\u201d (An official decision from SARU is expected on Monday)<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this is the case, we will accept and abide by the decision of SA Rugby. We know that the region has never been fed with a silver spoon, and have no reason to expect any different going into our debut Super Rugby Season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe path for this region to get a Super Rugby franchise has been fraught with challenges, and yet, despite all the odds, we have overcome them and Super Rugby is a reality, with our first game against Western Force less than a month away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe accept that this opportunity comes from a loaded deck of cards, but the bigger the challenge, the bigger the task, the bigger the team and the overall success.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not be releasing any of our foreign players, however, as there are still ample opportunities within our structures for them to contribute.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rapport report by Rudolph Lake also went on to question:<\/strong><\/p>\n