About Southern Kings

The Southern Kings, known for sponsorship reasons as the Isuzu Southern Kings are a South African rugby union team that played Super Rugby in 2013, 2016 and 2017, before joining the Pro14 competition prior to the 2017–18 season. The team is based at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth and was formally announced at the opening of this stadium on 16 June 2009, in time to coincide with the 2009 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa.

For the 2013 season, the Kings' catchment area was made up of the Eastern Cape and parts of the Western Cape, drawing players from 3 provincial unions, namely the Eastern Province Kings, based in Port Elizabeth (representing the southern half of the Eastern Cape), the Border Bulldogs, based in East London (representing the northern half of the Eastern Cape) and the SWD Eagles, based in George (representing the South Western Districts). However, after the South African Rugby Union took over the running of the franchise in November 2015, the franchise had no formal ties to any of the provincial unions.