Cape Town - The Kings have ignored the South African Rugby Union's (SARU) ruling that SA Super Rugby franchises may only have two foreigners in their squads.

According to the SA Rugby magazine's website, Argentine duo, flank Tomas Leonardi and scrumhalf Nicolas Vergallo, Kiwi utility back Hadleigh Parkes, French hooker Virgile Lacombe and Kenyan forward Daniel Adongo have all been included in the Kings' 35-man squad.

EP president Cheeky Watson has stated on several occasions that the Kings should be allowed to field more than two foreigners as their Super Rugby inclusion came so late that they were unable to sign other South African players who were tied into contracts with other unions or clubs.

The Kings made a formal request to SARU asking for an exception to be made for them in their debut Super Rugby season, but it was rejected on January 27 this year.

The Kings, who lost to the Lions in their first Super Rugby warm-up match, will play Griquas in a friendly in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday, before opening their 2013 Super Rugby campaign at home against the Force on Saturday, February 23. Kick-off is at 19:10.

Kings squad:

Forwards:
Schalk Ferreira, Jaco Engels, Hannes Franklin, Virgile Lacombe, Bandise Maku, Edgar Marutlulle, Kevin Buys, Grant Kemp, Steven Sykes, David Bullbring, Darron Nell, Rynier Bernardo, Daniel Adongo, Wimpie van der Walt, Mpho Mbiyozo, Tomas Leonardi, Cornell du Preez, Devin Oosthuizen, Luke Watson (captain), Jacques Engelbrecht

Backs:
Shaun Venter, Johan Herbst, Nicolas Vergallo, Demetri Catrakilis, George Whitehead, Andries Strauss, Hadleigh Parkes, Ronnie Cooke, Waylon Murray, Michael Killian, Sergeal Petersen, Marcello Sampson, Siyanda Grey, SP Marais, Elric van Vuuren

HAVE YOUR SAY: Wise move by the Kings to defy SARU - or should they be allowed a special exemption due to the late nature of their Super Rugby inclusion? Send your thoughts to Sport24.