Golden Lions Rugby Union
All the Lions’ Currie Cup heroes except for Kwagga Smith, who is contracted for National Sevens duty, have been retained for Super Rugby while 9 other stalwarts have strengthened the squad.
Flanker Derick Minnie returns after a long injury lay-off and winger Ruan Combrink and centre Harold Vorster have also been added to the Super Rugby group after missing some Currie Cup action due to injury.
Springbok flyhalf Elton Jantjies, centre Lionel Mapoe and hooker Akker van der Merwe, as well as Warrick Tecklenburg will return from overseas duty.
The new squad members are former Steval Pumas scrumhalf Faf de Klerk, Leopards No 9 Dillon Smit, Leopards lock Robert Kruger and Pumas prop Corné Fourie, who are all full-blooded Lions now.
Scrumhalf Faf de Klerk has signed a contract with the Golden Lions Rugby Union (GLRU) which will see him based permanently in Johannesburg. De Klerk, 24, was a shining light for the Emirates Lions during this year’s Super Rugby competition but because he was still contracted to the Steval Pumas, he had to return to Nelspruit for the Currie Cup season. However, the GLRU on Wednesday confirmed that the scrumhalf has signed a deal which means he will also be available for Currie Cup duty.
Steval Pumas fullback JW Bell is the only new face who hasn’t donned the Lions jersey yet.
The Golden Lions Rugby Union has paid tribute to a former stalwart of the union, Charles Pieterse, who has passed away.
Pieterse played 50 games for the then Transvaal in the 1980s. He also represented the SA Barbarians and played all of his club rugby for Randfontein Rugby Club.
GLRU President Kevin de Klerk expressed his deepest sympathy to Pieterse’s family, on behalf of the union.
Swys de Bruin
The Golden Lions Rugby Union moved quickly to dismiss media speculation that backline coach Swys de Bruin was leaving the franchise.
De Bruin has been linked to the position of head coach at the Southern Kings, who will return to Super Rugby when the competition expands to 18 teams next year.
The GLRU said in a statement that De Bruin has a contract in place and will be continuing in his role with the team for the “foreseeable future”.
De Bruin is the current backline coach with the Lions, who had just completed their best Super Rugby season – 9 wins, 6 losses and 1 draw – since Transvaal won the Super 10 competition in 1993 and played in the 1995 Super 10 Final.
GLRU Chief Executive Officer Rudolf Straeuli confirmed that De Bruin will maintain his current role at the union.
Dick Muir
Former Lions head coach and Springbok assistant coach Dick Muir is suing the Golden Lions Rugby Union over alleged breach of contract.
According to reports, Muir is claiming R 4.6 Million from the union, after his 3-year contract was allegedly ended after only 1 year in 2010.
In court documents submitted to the labour court in Johannesburg, the GLRU denies the claim and said Muir was paid R 900 000.00 too much during his time with the union.
Muir, who helped the Springboks prepare for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, was at times absent for as long as a month.
The GLRU claims “wrongful payments” for all those months Muir was absent.
The Golden Lions Rugby Union has named their CONTRACTED SQUAD for 2015. They also boast 4 Ex-Springboks amongst the Management and Coaching staff.
Kevin de Klerk, Rudolf Staeuli, Ashwin Willemse and Johan Ackerman, all Ex-Springboks are all in important positions at the Golden Lions Rugby Union, from President down to Head Coach.
Contracted Players:
The Golden Lions Rugby Union (GLRU) has announced its new contracted player list for the 2015 season.
While financial constraints remain a challenge for the Lions, retaining talent remains their main priority. This is not unheard of as all South African unions have suffered financial constraints and must content with increasing pressure from the lucrative European and Japanese markets.
With the GLRU not yet covered by a title sponsor, the union has secured the input of several valuable partners to assist in the procurement process. Through building stronger relationships with stakeholders, the Lions put on a record-breaking Super Rugby showing, after the franchise’s return to top flight competition in 2014.
They finished the Super Rugby season in 12th spot, but surprised many pundits with their seven victories, capped by a 60-25 thrashing of the Cheetahs last weekend.
An established buy-in value system from coaching staff, players and management has seen the Lions secure the services of both top-class experienced and up-and-coming players.
The partnership between the Golden Lions Rugby Union and MTN South Africa came to an end as of Friday 13 December 2013, with the company opting not to renew their sponsorship of the GLRU teams.
After a fruitful three-year relationship, the telecommunications giant have chosen to realign their sponsorship portfolio and will no longer sponsor a rugby outfit.
John Mitchell has been ‘requested’ to report for duty at the Golden Lions Rugby Union headquarters in Johannesburg on Friday.
Suspended Golden Lions Rugby Union coach John Mitchell’s employment saga has taken a new twist as he says he does not want to join Sale Sharks but wants to stay in South Africa.
The Golden Lions Rugby Union have issued a press release listing new player contract signings, and current player contract extensions.
Possibly the most significant signing is that of Warwick Tecklenberg, the promising young loose forward from the Blue Bulls.
Other exciting youngsters include a number of the victorious SA Under 20 World Championship winning side, all of whom should go a long way to building the Lions’ squad for their expected return to Super Rugby in 2014.
Also notable is that Lions stalwart of the last few years Derek Minnie, has re-commited until the end of 2014.
The full press release reads:
The disciplinary hearing into allegations of misconduct against the Lions’ suspended coach John Mitchell has been postponed until next week, Golden Lions Rugby Union (GLRU) president Kevin de Klerk said on Tuesday.
“It was postponed until next week after the chairperson of the hearing had taken ill,” De Klerk said.
The Golden Lions Rugby Union announced the MTN Golden Lions squad to participate in the 2012 Absa Currie Cup competition this afternoon.
Short and sweet… that was the One-liner Media Release by the Golden Lions Rugby Union!
More days, more strife, at the Lions, what’s new?
The disciplinary hearing of suspended Lions coach John Mitchell will start at the offices of the Golden Lions Rugby Union on Tuesday.
Regarding the last few weeks 2013 Super Rugby shenanigans, the GLRU have released the following statement.
We’ve received an official request from the Golden Lions Rugby Union (with which we have extremely good working relations) to help advertise for them to fill the vacant post of CEO of the Union.
Manie Reyneke, the previous CEO, vacated the position late last year, and a new appointment has not been made.
I’m sure there are some of our readers who might just qualify for the position!
Be assured, with all the rumours and innuendo going around about the Lions, that it WILL NOT be the easiest of jobs to do, one would need a skin thicker than that of a rhino!
Herewith the full Advert:
Today, the Guma Group, previous investors in the Golden Lions Rugby Union publicly announced in the Media that they are about to take legal action against the Lions to recover money they invested into the Lions during their brief and troublesome relationship, which was terminated last year.
The Golden Lions Rugby Union responded as follows, via a Media Release:
In recent days there has been some speculation that Francois Steyn could be moving back to South Africa, and of course the speculation started who could vie for his services.
One of the candidates touted to have offered Steyn employment, of course, is the Golden Lions Rugby Union, but apparently that is not the case… yet.
The Golden Lions Rugby Union received notification this morning via social networking website www.twitter.com that a rumour has been circulating that the Golden Lions Rugby Union are bankrupt and can only afford to pay their players’ salaries until the end of the month.
Ikey Tigers blow Shimlas away
FNB UCT produced a sensational first-half performance to put FNB Shimlas away 57-20 in their semifinal meeting in Cape Town, as they booked a place in the 2011 Varsity Cup Final for the third time in four years.
Tuks spoil UJ’s semifinal party
Speaking ahead of the Varsity Cup semifinals, FNB Tuks described their Last Four meeting with FNB UJ as a David v Goliath-type contest. Well, David – once again – felled Goliath as the fourth-placed Tuks beat the top-of-the-log UJ side by 25-11.
Continue reading
The two Semi-finals of the Varsity Cup was played today, the 1st match at 17:00 and the 2nd match at 19:00. This was the combined match thread for discussion of the Games. The matches were broadcast live on SuperSport 1 on TV in SA.
UCT (45) 57 / Shimlas (3) 20 (Final Score)
UJ (6) 11 / Tukkies (14) 25 (Final Score)
UCT (9) 16 / Maties (24) 37 (Final Score)
Shimlas (13) 37 / Pukke (17) 28 (Final Score)
UCT hosted Maties at the UCT rugby fields, Cape Town at 17:00 and Shimlas hosted Pukke at Shimla Park, Bloemfontein at 19:10 SA Time. This was the combined match Thread for discussion of the game. The 2 matches were both broadcast live on SuperSport 1 & CSN on TV in SA.
FNB UCT and FNB UJ are still unbeaten after four rounds of 2011 Varsity Cup action, with just one change on the log this week – at the bottom of the standings – as FNB Pukke finally scored their first league point of the season.
Shimlas (20) 20 / Tuks (5) 15 (Final Score)
Shimlas hosted Tuks at Shimla Stadium, Bloemfontein at 19:00 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 on TV in SA.
a Quick wrap up of the Varsity Cup games played on Monday 21 February 2011. Varsity Shield results are at the end of this article.
UJ (9) 28 / Shimlas (17) 24 (Final Score)
UJ hosted Shimlas at UJ Stadium, Johannesburg at 19:00 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 on TV in SA.
UJ fought back, like their bigger brothers at the Lions, but unlike the Lions they managed to make the comeback complete and to record a win over Shimlas by 3 points.
Shimlas 10 / Ikeys 23 (Final Score)
Shimlas hosted FNB UCT (Ikeys) at Shimla Park, Bloemfontein at 17:00 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 and CSN on TV in SA.
FNB UCT controlled the game well and led right through, with Shimlas making far too many basic mistakes.
This mtch was scrappy in general.