Rassie rolling in to rescue Southern Kings?

FORMER Springbok loose forward Rassie Erasmus is likely to make a return to coaching by playing a role in the Southern Kings’ Super Rugby campaign next year.

It is understood that Erasmus, who is the general manager for High Performance and also heads up the referee department at the South African Rugby Union, will soon be part of a high-powered coaching staff at the Kings as SARU intervenes at the struggling Eastern Province outfit.

Defence expert Jacques Nienaber is a member of Erasmus’ Mobi-Unit, while Louis Koen is the kicking coach. Also, Balie Swart may help out with the scrums and Richie Gray with the breakdown.

It is believed that SARU’s coaching mobi-unit will support the Kings’ staff, with Brent Janse van Rensburg confirmed as the head coach for the 2016 season. Erasmus, 43, who hails from Despatch in the Eastern Cape, previously coached the Free State Cheetahs to Currie Cup glory in 2005, while he also took up the reins at the Stormers as director of rugby, before joining the Saru brains trust.

SARU’s intervention is believed to have come at the request of EP Kings president Cheeky Watson who has struggled to secure a major sponsorship as the union battles to honour salary commitments to players and management.

The Kings have not paid their players last month’s salaries, having also failed to do so earlier this year, while coaches and management have not received any remuneration for September and October.

The Kings have thus found themselves in breach of contract with the players and already captain Tim Whitehead and prop Lizo Gqoboka have left the union, while Tim Agaba, Thembelani Bholi, Luther Obi and Sylvian Mahuza are set to follow suit.

Gqoboka has already been snapped up by the Bulls while Agaba might be joining the Bulls or the Lions; Bholi and Obi are understood to be close to heading to Loftus Versfeld. “Rassie and his Mobi-Unit will be going to help out at the Kings and make sure that their Super Rugby preparations are not affected by what is going on,” said a source at SARU.

“South African rugby can’t afford for the Kings not to be part of Super Rugby next year and we can’t allow a franchise with so many black players to disappear.”

SARU will also take charge of the commercial running of the Eastern Cape franchise as they throw all their resources into ensuring that the Kings are competitive for their return to Super Rugby.

Former SARU chief executive officer Rian Oberholzer may also assist with the administration while SARU’s chief financial officer Basil Haddad will look after the financial matters. – Vata Ngobeni