The Nations Cup was first held in 2006 in Lisbon with Argentina A, Italy A, Portugal and Russia taking part. The tournament is part of the International Rugby Board’s $50 million Strategic Investment programme. In 2006 Argentina A emerged the winners. In 2007 and 2008 the emerging Springboks took part in the competition and won on both occasions.
Three years later another team from South Africa will be taking part – the South African Kings, which is essentially a Southern Kings side. Portugal willl also be joining the teams this year, along with hosta Romania, defending Nations Cup champions Namibia, and Georgia and the Argentina Jaguars. The Nations Cup is being staged in the Arcul de Triumf stadium in Bucharest, Romania (GMT +3).
On Wednesday 25 May the SA Kings coach, Alan Solomons, announced the names of his team that will travel to Bucharest on 6 June ahead of their first match on 10 June as:
- Backs: Mzawandile Stick (Captain), SP Marais, Baldwin McBean, Marcello Sampson, Jaco Bekker, Siyanda Grey, Wayne Stevens, Jaco van Schalkwyk, Shane Gates, Danie Faasen and Boela Abrahams.
- Forwards: Jaco Engels, Phumlani Nodikida, Andre Schlechter, Clint Newland, Hannes Franklin, Frank Herne, Jaco Fourie, Darron Nell, Ross Kennedy, Barend Pieterse, Devin Oosthuizen, Jaques Potgieter, Mpho Mbiyoza, Jacques Engelbrecht and Luke Watson.
The Nations Cup tournament will be played over three triple-header match days on June 10, 15 and 19 as follows:
Round 1: Friday, 10 June
- 17:00 – Romania v Namibia
- 19:00 – Georgia v South African Kings
- 21:00 – Argentina Jaguars v Portugal
Round 2: Wednesday, 15 June
- 17:00 – Georgia v Argentina Jaguars
- 19:00 – Romania v South African Kings
- 21:00 – Portugal v Namibia
Round 3: Sunday, 19 June
- 17:00 – Portugal v South African Kings
- 19:00 – Georgia v Namibia
- 21:00 – Romania v Argentina Jaguars
Young academy talent and now senior side player, Shane Gates (18, DOB: 27/09/92) is looking forward to his first trip overseas to play for the South African Kings squad.
The ex-muir Head boy was a stand out school spoortsman and obtained school colours for rugby, cricket, tennis, hockety and golf. Born and raised in Despatch (we won’t hold that against you, Shane), he has played three times for the senior Kings side. His first game was against the Blue Bulls; “Tackling at this level means you stay down for 5 seconds longer than at school boy rugby” said the young full time NMMU Human Movement Sciences student.
Big, quietly confident in his ability and his potential to contribute to the growth of the Kings Franchise, Shane admitted that he had a ; “… few nerves, as I have never been outside of South Africa before,” but was relishing the opportunity to play against foreign players.
Alan Straton
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