The Southern Kings have named all five of their foreign players in their final 35-man Super Rugby squad despite SARU's ruling that they are only allowed two.
The Eastern Cape franchise, who will make their Super Rugby debut this year, have recruited Argentine Test players Tomas Leonardi and Nicolas Vergallo, Kiwi utility back Hadleigh Parkes, French hooker Virgile Lacombe and Kenyan forward Daniel Adongo, and have been in negotiations with SARU to allow all five of them to participate this season.
However, there has been no indication from the national body that they are ready to make an exception for the Kings, which makes the squad announcement released on Tuesday all the more intriguing as one side will have to budge in what appears to be something of a stand-off.
More to follow...
Schalk Ferrreira, Jaco Engels, Hannes Franklin, Virgile Lacombe, Bandise Maku, Edgar Marutlulle, Kevin Buys, Grant Kemp, Steven Sykes, David Bullbring, Darron Nell, Rynier Bernardo, Daniel Adongo, Wimpie van der Walt, Mpho Mbiyozo, Tomas Leonardi, Cornell du Preez, Devin Oosthuizen, Luke Watson (captain), Jacques Engelbrecht.
Backs: Shaun Venter, Johan Herbst, Nicolas Vergallo, Demetri Catrakillis, George Whitehead, Andries Strauss, Hadleigh Parkes, Ronnie Cooke, Waylon Murray, Michael Killian, Sergeal Petersen, Marcello Sampson, Siyanda Grey, SP Marais, Elric van Vuuren.
