Springbok legends Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, Fourie du Preez and John Smit will be notable absentees as South African sides prepare for a Super Rugby competition that could end with one of them in the wilderness.
The Port Elizabeth-based Southern Kings are guaranteed a place next year and if South African attempts to increase the number of teams to 16 fail, one of the current five must drop out with potentially crippling financial consequences.
Former champions the Bulls, the Stormers and the Sharks are considered the strongest trio, leaving the Cheetahs and the Lions in a possible dogfight to avoid relegation by finishing last in the conference.
The Pretoria-based Bulls will field a dramatically different team from that which won three titles in the past five seasons with iconic lock Matfield retiring and many other stars moving abroad.
Fellow lock Botha, prop Gurthro Steenkamp and hooker Gary Botha have gone to France and half-back Du Preez and lock Danie Rossouw to Japan while several others have retired, stripping them of key experience for the tournament, which starts on Friday.
An additional blow was the recent appointment of Heyneke Meyer as Springbok coach after playing a crucial role in the rise of the Bulls during the past decade, first as coach and then director of rugby.
Many former Bulls fringe players now have the chance to become first choices, including scrum-half Francois Hougaard, prop Dean Greyling and hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle while Juandre Kruger is a potential successor to Matfield.
Stormers, the Cape Town franchise who were runners-up two seasons ago and semi-finalists last year, has also suffered from an exodus with far higher salaries abroad than those on offer locally.
Springbok Jaque Fourie has moved to Japan, full-back Conrad Jantjes and lock Anton van Zyl to France, lock Adriaan Fondse and flank Francois Louw to England, and others have new South African employers.
These include highly rated Bulls-bound centre Johann Sadie, leaving coach Allister Coetzee short of midfield cover for Jean de Villiers and Juan de Jongh, who has deployed Springbok World Cup-winning wing Bryan Habana there.
There are no backline problems for the Sharks who boasts an embarrassment of riches and young play-anywhere Patrick Lambie is set to wear the number 10 jersey with Frenchman Frederic Michalak operating at half-back.
But New Zealand-born coach John Plumtree must do without popular Springbok prop Tendai "The Beast" Mtawarira for up to four months after a training ground injury in the Indian Ocean city of Durban.
With 2007 World Cup-winning skipper Smit in the winter of his career at English outfit Saracens, livewire Bismarck du Plessis can take permanent ownership of the hooker position with brother Jannie at tighthead.
Traditional strugglers Cheetahs from the central city of Bloemfontein improved last year, winning in Australasia for the first time and defeating eventual champions the Crusaders at home.
But no close season passes without some of their best players being lured away - scrum-half Sarel Pretorius has joined New South Wales and utility back Riaan Viljoen is now a Shark.
Debt-troubled Golden Lions from Johannesburg hopes to build on winning the Currie Cup last year under former All Blacks coach John Mitchell with young Elton Jantjies an inventive fly-half and deadly goal kicker.
But the team, led by flank Josh Strauss, is most pundits' tip to anchor the South African Conference standings and relegation would be calamitous for a franchise reportedly $9 million dollars in the red.
AFP
Tags: super-rugby, rugby-union, sport, south-africa First posted February 23, 2012 19:13:05
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