Rob Kempson unveiled as new Kings director

The new owners of the Southern Kings have announced a number of new developments, including the appointment of Rob Kempson as their high-performance director.

This comes after last week's news that a consortium of Eastern Cape business people, called The Greatest Rugby Company in the Whole Wide World (Pty) Ltd (GRC), acquired a controlling interest in the Kings.

New Kings chairperson Loyiso Dotwana announced Kempson's appointment at a briefing held with key stakeholders on Thursday. 

According to a release from the PRO14 franchise, Kempson will be in charge of recruitment, overseeing coaching structures and establishing a high-performance rugby academy.

He had been serving as a coaching consultant up until the announcement. 

"Rob Kempson is a widely respected professional in rugby circles and is known for his extensive knowledge of the game, having played rugby at the highest level, and for his immense role in the nurturing of young talent from this province," said Dotwana.

"It was therefore a natural decision to appoint one of the sons of the Eastern Cape province to this important role."

Head coach Deon Davids, meanwhile, has signed a contract extension that will see his stay at the franchise until May 2020. 

In another development Charl Crous, current CEO of the franchise, has accepted a position as head of operations for PRO14 rugby, based in Dublin, effective from June 2019.

Dotwana said that he viewed this appointment as a positive development for the franchise given the in-depth knowledge Crous has of the franchise’s operations.

The Kings have win just 2 of their 17 matches in the PRO14 this season. 

"We expect next season to be very different. Just like in business, we are also ambitious with the results that we expect on the field. The ground work to ensure that we achieve our targets is already underway for the season," added Dotwana.