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Cape Town - Kings boss Cheeky Watson insists the future is bright for his franchise despite their relegation from Super Rugby.
The Kings were relegated from next year's competition despite a 23-18 victory over the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday.
They lost the first leg of the promotion-relegation matches in Port Elizabeth and needed to win by eight points to maintain the status quo.
But Watson told Die Burger's website that all is not doom and gloom for rugby in the region.
"It's not as though everything will now suddenly fall apart here. We developed some wonderful local talent this year and some of those players have already started to make their mark.
"We will do our best to give them some kind of incentive to try and keep their services," said Watson.
Watson also said it's not the end of the world if some players want to seek greener pastures.
"It's understandable that some of them would now want to be contracted or loaned elsewhere."
Some of the players expected to be leaving are centre Waylon Murray, loose forward Jacques Engelbrecht, lock David Bullbring and hooker Bandise Maku, reportedly to the Bulls, while prop Kevin Buys is heading to France and flank Wimpie van der Walt to Japan.
Scrumhalf Shaun Venter, who was loaned from the Pumas for the Super-series, will also to return to the Mpumalanga side.
Will the Lions fare better or worse in 2014 than the Kings did in 2013? Send your thoughts to Sport24 to get published!
The Kings were relegated from next year's competition despite a 23-18 victory over the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday.
They lost the first leg of the promotion-relegation matches in Port Elizabeth and needed to win by eight points to maintain the status quo.
But Watson told Die Burger's website that all is not doom and gloom for rugby in the region.
"It's not as though everything will now suddenly fall apart here. We developed some wonderful local talent this year and some of those players have already started to make their mark.
"We will do our best to give them some kind of incentive to try and keep their services," said Watson.
Watson also said it's not the end of the world if some players want to seek greener pastures.
"It's understandable that some of them would now want to be contracted or loaned elsewhere."
Some of the players expected to be leaving are centre Waylon Murray, loose forward Jacques Engelbrecht, lock David Bullbring and hooker Bandise Maku, reportedly to the Bulls, while prop Kevin Buys is heading to France and flank Wimpie van der Walt to Japan.
Scrumhalf Shaun Venter, who was loaned from the Pumas for the Super-series, will also to return to the Mpumalanga side.
Will the Lions fare better or worse in 2014 than the Kings did in 2013? Send your thoughts to Sport24 to get published!
