Southern Kings

Creation and early years

The "Southern Kings" was created to involve the Eastern Cape provintsiyui South Africa in Super Rugby. Prior to this, in 2005, the Southern Spears team was created, with the leadership of which had similar goals. It was assumed that the "Spears" start in the Super 14 from 2007, but this was prevented by disagreements within the country's rugby elite. In April 2006, the Spears application was rejected: doubts arose as to the club’s financial and sports competitiveness ^[2] . Soon the team ceased to exist.

In January 2009, the South African Reggia Union announced the formation of a new organization to represent the province. Creation of the team, as well as its first match (against the “ British and Irish Lions ”, which ended in defeat 8:20 ^[3] ), was scheduled for June ^[4] . Joining the main club tournament of the Southern Hemisphere was a priority goal, but the date of completion of this process remained unknown. The provincial leader, Chiki Watson, stated: “There is a desperate hunger for high-level rugby in the province, and this is the first step towards satisfying it” ^[5] . The creation of the team was officially announced in April 2009 ^[6] .

Team managers applied for joining the Australian Championship created since 2011. Teams from all three participating countries applied for the seat, but on November 12, 2009, the tournament administration rejected the South African Rugby Union 's bid, giving the fifteenth place in the Australian league Melbourne Rebels ^{[ 7]} .

On November 11, 2010, the national union confirmed that the rugby players will have match practice in 2011. The club held three games against other South African Super Rugby teams and one match against the Premier XV team, made up mainly of South African rugby players. The Southern Kings also took part in the World Rugby- 2011 Nations Cup under the name South African Kings, becoming the winners of this contest ^[8] .

On January 27, 2012, the South African Rugby Union confirmed the participation of the Kings in the 2013 Super Rugby season. At the same time, the question of where the team will be located remained open ^[9] on August 16, 2012 it became known that championship place " Lyons ", which showed the worst result of the season among the five South African franchises ^[10] . In addition, a decision was made on the annual rotation of the South African teams: the franchise, which took the last place in the South African conference, played two matches (at home and away) against a team that did not participate in the championship ^[11] .

Super Rugby 2013

The Southern Kings debuted in Super Rugby on February 23, 2013 in a home game against the “ Western Force ”, which ended in a home win with a score of 22:10. Scoring points "kings" opened Sergil Petersen, who brought two attempts ^[12] . After this important victory for the club, the team failed to win for the next five matches (4 losses and a draw). In total, for the season, three victories were won with one draw and twelve defeats. The regular championship of the Southern Kings finished in last place both in the conference and in the general table and were forced to play in the playoffs with the Lions for the right to stay in Super Rugby.

In the first match of the playoffs, the lions turned out to be stronger, having won with a score of 26:19 ^[13] . In the second match, with a score of 23:19, the “kings” won, but this was not enough to save a place in Super Rugby: with a total score of 44:42, the Lions got the right to participate in the next season ^[14] .

2014–15: Super Rugby skip

After the end of the season, several players and coaching staff left the club: club manager Alan Solomons left for the Scottish Edinburgh ^[15] , and head coach Matt Sexton decided to return to New Zealand ^[16] . On September 4, 2013, the head of SANZAR, Greg Peters, confirmed that in 2016, after the conclusion of a new telecontract, South Africa would receive the sixth franchise ^[17] . This was again talked about in 2014, when it was announced that Super Rugby would be expanded to 18 teams and to receive franchises from Argentina and Japan. ^[18]

The Southern Kings missed the Super Rugby 2014 due to the loss of the Lions in the playoffs, and also agreed to skip the 2015 season in exchange for guaranteed participation of the Eastern Provinces Kings in the highest division of the Curry Cup in 2014 and 2015 ^{[19 ]} .

The return of the club to the championship was questionable due to financial problems: players were not paid a salary from August to November 2015 ^[20] . In November, the South African Rugby Union announced that it would take the franchise under its own control ^[21] . In December, the union announced a plan of action: Deon Davids becomes the head coach of the team, all wage arrears and the final composition for the season are repaid to the players ^[22] .

2016: Return to Super Rugby

On February 27, 2016, the “Kings” played their first Super Rugby match after a two-year break. Despite the status of the hosts and a try brought by Chris Kloet on the 9th minute, the team largely lost to Sharks with a score of 8:43 ^[23] .

The composition for the season 2017/18 ^[24] :

Season	A place	Games	Victory	Draws	Defeats	Points +	Points -	Difference	Bonuses	Tournament points	Playoffs
2013	15th	sixteen	3	one	12	289	564	-266	2	24
2016	17th	15	one	one	13	282	684	-402	one	9
2017	11th	15	6	0	9	391	470	-79	four	28

• " Border Bulldogs "
• Eastern Province Kings
• " COURSE EAGLES "

• Club official website
• Club page on SuperXV.com