Rugby: Lions pay quota penalty

The Laurie Mains-coached Golden Lions Currie Cup team have been fined for contravening South African Rugby Football Union rules on player quotas.

Sarfu rules state that two players of colour must be on the field at all times during Currie Cup matches.

A player of colour may only be replaced with a white player if he has an injury and not for tactical purposes.

The Golden Lions were guilty of replacing Conrad Jantjes with a white player against the Cheetahs.

Meanwhile, black rugby players denied the chance of competing at test level for South Africa under apartheid are to be retrospectively honoured as Springboks by the South African Rugby Football Union.

Hundreds of non-white players will be eligible for new Sarfu blazers and ties as the union makes good on a commitment made in 1992, when racially segregated unions united as Sarfu.