The Kings maintain that only one of the candidates for their vacant head coach position had the required qualifications for the job.
The Eastern Cape franchise has been hard at work finding a replacement for Deon Davids, who reportedly left on mutual terms.
The Kings advertised the position and appointed a seven-man panel, headed by chairman Loyiso Dotwana and high-performance manager Robbie Kempson, to interview potential candidates and make recommendations to the board.
Former Springbok coach Peter de Villiers as well as Worcester Warriors coach Rory Duncan, Samoa coach Steve Jackson and Cheetahs forwards coach Corniel van Zyl were all named by Rapport on a shortlist to replace Davids.
However, there has been controversy as Rapport reported on Sunday that De Villiers was no longer a candidate for the position, because he allegedly did not possess a Level 3 coaching certificate – a matter De Villiers himself took to social media to dispute.
It has also been reported that Duncan has taken himself out of contention, while Van Zyl allegedly did not meet the qualifications for the job.
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Dotwana said, in a statement released by the Kings, that only one of their candidates met the minimum requirements of having a Level 3 certificate as well as the necessary experience.
‘We can confirm that proceedings continue to progress in an orderly, confidential and professional manner,’ the statement read. ‘An interviewing panel was appointed to interview candidates for the Head Coach position and to make recommendations to the Southern Kings Board.
‘While the job advertisement for the vacant position called for a candidate with a World Rugby Level 3 qualification, as per minimum requirement for all elite coaches, and experience at the highest level, it was discovered that only one of the candidates that were interviewed had the required qualifications.
‘Notwithstanding the above, following the completion of the process of interviews, the interviewing panel ranked the candidates in terms of their technical capacity for the job.
‘We can confirm that the interviewing panel has sent their scores and rankings to the Chairman of the Board, Mr Loyiso Dotwana, who intends to present these recommendations at the next Board meeting before a final decision is made.
‘An official announcement will be made at the appropriate time once all contractual negotiations have been completed.’
Photo: skings.co.za
