- WP administrator Rian Oberholzer confirmed reports that he has been approached by SA Rugby to succeed Jurie Roux as interim CEO.
- Roux left the organisation in disgrace at the end of 2022 after he was ordered to repay R37 million in misappropriated University of Stellenbosch funds.
- Oberholzer said his possible return to SA Rugby would not affect the WP administration process that began in October 2021.
Western Province administrator Rian Oberholzer confirmed reports that he was being lined up to replace Jurie Roux as SA Rugby CEO on an interim basis.
According to Afrikaans newspaper Rapport, Oberholzer and SA Rugby president Mark Alexander came to an agreement over Oberholzer becoming acting CEO, but they were awaiting the approval of the governing body's executive committee.
Alexander was acting in the post temporarily, according to reports, but has approached the veteran administrator, who was SA Rugby managing director in the past, to fill the post until a permanent successor to Roux is found.
However, Oberholzer said the possible appointment would not curtail the Western Province administration process that has taken a twist with protest action set to take place by some WP-affiliated clubs on Saturday.
"That is so, yes," said Oberholzer asked if reports of an SA Rugby approach were true.
"I've been made an offer by SA Rugby to be the interim CEO. But that will not stop the WP administration.
"SA Rugby will just appoint another administrator to take care of the administrative process. The administration has got nothing to do with the individual but everything to do with the process.
"And that process will continue."
Oberholzer said they knew there was the possibility of facing strong resistance to SA Rugby’s intervention into Western Province - which they enacted through clause 29.5 of the South African Rugby Union constitution - but that he thought "sanity would prevail" in the end.
"It was always possible but we thought that, if we brought the solutions of the equity partnership and the property deal, sanity would prevail.
"And that they would see that this was in the best interest of Western Province rugby. It’s all that the majority of the clubs must ask themselves: Is this in the interest of Western Province as a collective?
"It's not about the interests of one individual. I do believe sanity will prevail, if that is the position of the majority of the clubs, which I believe it is.
"As I said earlier, this is a small minority that's a making a lot of noise."
The WP-owned Stormers face the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday at 14:30 but not before disgruntled clubs march to Cape Town Stadium in an attempt to oust the mother body from its offices.
The disgruntled clubs wrote a statement in which they demanded SA Rugby’s immediate exit, "suspension of financial decisions" and "an immediate investigation into who decided on inviting the Israeli club (Tel Aviv Heat) to play in our tournaments".