Sport24.co.za | Matfield, Paulse off the bench to replace removed trio
Cape Town – Former Springboks Victor Matfield and Breyton Paulse are in the SuperSport studio covering Saturday afternoon’s Super Rugby matches in South Africa.
EXCLUSIVE: Why SuperSport said the Willemse incident wasn’t racist
The Bulls entertain the Brumbies at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria at 15:05, while in the later game the Stormers and Lions cross swords at Newlands (17:15).
Xola Ntshinga is anchor of the show, which will also cover the Springbok squad announcement at 19:00.
The panel changes come after the pay channel confirmed on Friday that the trio of Ashwin Willemse, Nick Mallett and Naas Botha would not be on duty.
It followed after conflict between the trio, which saw Willemse walk off the live set during last Saturday’s broadcast, was not resolved.
Willemse had accused Mallett and Botha of patronising him, adding he could not “work with people that undermine other people”.
The three parties had met on Monday but could not get to the bottom of their issues.
“We have had discussions this week with all parties in an effort to resolve this matter amicably and expeditiously,” SuperSport said in a statement.
The matter, SuperSport added, would now be placed in the hands of an independent mediator.
“Despite good progress initially, the matter has unfortunately not been resolved. We have therefore decided to instruct an independent Senior Counsel, Advocate Vincent Maleka SC, to chair a review of the incident which occurred and to make recommendations to our management.
“Pending the outcome of the review, the three presenters involved will not appear on-air. None of the presenters have been suspended and they will continue to be remunerated in terms of their contracts.
“We are committed to getting to the bottom of this serious issue. Advocate Maleka SC has been asked to make findings and recommendations by Monday, June 11, 2018.”
Motshidisi Mohono was the anchor last weekend.