In June 2009, the Southern Kings, a Port Elizabeth based Super Rugby team, was established and is not connected with the former outfit.

In 2006, the original plan called for the bottom-placed South African Super 14 team to be relegated, with the Spears taking their place.

This same decision/agreement was then ratified by the SA Rugby Board at a meeting on 2 December 2005, and all these competition fixtures were included in a definitive Franchise Participation agreement, which the Spears signed on 7 February 2006.

His successor, Oregan Hoskins, ran on a platform that included scrapping, or at least radically modifying, the promotion/relegation system introduced by van Rooyen.

It is this entrenchment that would have left one or at the most 2 of the existing Super Rugby sides without any competition or tournaments to play and would have led to complications with player and sponsorship agreements.

As a consequence the 5 CEO's of the Bulls, Cheetahs, Lions, Sharks and Stormers collaborated in an "all-for-one and one-for-all" to out vote the incumbent SARU President Brian van Rooyen and replace him with Oregan Hoskins a conveyancing attorney from Pietermaritzburg.

From January 2006 to May 2006 the Spears had to arrange their own tournaments and games and did this themselves by organising over 10 Matches, 5 "internationals" the others against 5 provincial sides (3 - Kenya, 2 - Namibia, Cheetahs, Lions, WP, Border and SWD).

The Spears were captained by Ashley Johnson, who led a team of 30 players accompanied by 5 management staff, who played games against WP, Lions, Cheetahs, Border and the Eagles in front of crowds up to 35,000 at Telkom Park in Mandela Bay and to capacity in East London's stadium of 15,000.

McKeever's legal counsel of Advocates Norman Arendse and Geoff Budlender, produced to the High Court, the Presidents Council resolution of 8 June 2005, plus supporting documents from SA Rugby confirming this agreement.

Following 5 Cape High Court orders in favour of the Spears over SA Rugby, on 4 August 2006, a High Court of South Africa ruling by Judge Dennis Davis, ruled with a cost order against SA Rugby, that the Spears had a valid and binding contract with SANZAR and SARU to compete in the Super 14 and Currie Cup.

In January 2009, the SARU announced that a new franchise in the South Eastern Cape region would be launched in June of that year to coincide with the arrival of the British and Irish Lions in Port Elizabeth for one of their midweek tour matches.

The Deputy President of the SARU Mark Alexander said "There is a desperate hunger for top-flight rugby in the South Eastern Cape and this is the first step to satisfying it", said Mr Watson.