If the Isuzu Southern Kings recruitment committee have their way,  bruising Bulls loose forward Thembelani Bholi  will be jetting out of Pretoria on the first plane home to Port Elizabeth.
       Insiders say the tough forward, who loves to carry the ball, is on a secret Kings wish list of players they want to sign ahead of the new season.
       Bholi is no stranger to Port Elizabeth and played for the EP Kings and Southern Kings before moving to the Pumas and then the Bulls.
         With 20 players expected to be cut from the Guinness PRO14, Kings high-performance director Robbi Kempson  has embarked on a rigorous  recruitment programme to  bolster the battling franchise.
      Kempson said players had been told  they would not be offered contract renewals for next season’s PRO14.
“We started this conversation with the individual players early in April because it would’ve allowed them at least three months to look for something else,” Kempson said.
        “For the Kings to be competitive in the PRO14, we need to strengthen  our squad with different players.”
Kempson added that they are looking at signing former Kings and Stormers flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis, who is currently playing for English club Harlequins.
‘We are still in negotiations with Demetri’s agent and Harlequins, just to make sure everything is done according to the book, but we will definitely reveal more about him next week.”
       The Kings have  confirmed the signings of Irish lock Jerry Sexton and flyhalf Courtney Winnaar who made his
debut for the Port Elizabeth  side when they lost in  Bloemfontein.
        Bholi represented the Border Country Districts at the U18 Craven Week tournaments in both 2007 and 2008.
He moved to Port Elizabeth in 2010 to join the EP Kings Academy and appeared as a substitute in all eight of the EP U21s' matches during the 2010 Provincial Championship.
        The forward was one of a group of eight players that graduated from the academy in its first year, signing a contract with the team for the 2012 season.
          He was named in their 2012 Vodacom Cup and 2012 Currie Cup First Division squads, but suffered a shoulder injury that prevented him from playing in any matches. 
     Bholi started all seven of EP’s matches in the 2014 Vodacom Cup competition, but could not help the team to qualify to the quarter-finals for a third successive season.
    However, he made enough of an impression that he was selected in the starting line-up for the EP Kings side that faced Wales in a tour match during a 2014 incoming tour.
He played the entire match as the Kings suffered a 34-12 defeat.