Cape Town - The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Sport was reassured on Tuesday that the Southern Kings would participate in the 2013 Super Rugby competition.

A delegation of the leadership of the South African Rugby Union (SARU) made a scheduled appearance before the committee to discuss a number of issues, including the Southern Kings.

“The Kings will play in the competition in 2013, but not at the expense of one of the other franchises,” Jurie Roux, the CEO of SARU, told the committee.

“Resolving that part of the equation is the issue at hand and we have a number of proposals to take to the Exco (Executive Council) and ultimately to the General Council for a decision in July.”

How SARU will resolve the issue remains a mystery though, with a local newspaper reporting on Tuesday that SARU is looking to possibly stick with its initial decision - where the last placed South African team in this year's Super Rugby competition will drop out. The Lions are currently the last-placed SA team, 13 points behind the Cheetahs, which would see them dropping out at the expense of the Kings. The report also indicated that a possible Cats merger (when the Cheetahs and Lions played as one team between 1998 and 2005) is out of the question.

SARU also briefed the committee on its Strategic Transformation Plan - which has been newly aligned to the Department of Sport’s National Sports and Recreation Plan - and also on the progress to establishing four SARU academies as a pilot project in Boland, SWD, Border and Eastern Province.

“It was a very productive and useful meeting, which gave us an opportunity to share our plans with the committee and understand the priorities and concerns of our parliamentary leaders,” said Roux.

“It was gratifying to be complimented on the improved quality of our presentation and for the professionalism of our organisation.”