Hooker Epalahame Faiva scored a hat-trick as Benetton Treviso beat the Kings 22-19 in Port Elizebeth on Saturday.

All three of Faiva’s tries came in the first half, with the visitors taking a 17-7 lead into the break. Centre Tertius Kruger’s try kept the Kings in the game.

Left wing Monty Ioane’s brilliant individual try secured the bonus point for Treviso, before the Kings hit back with two late tries from replacement prop Luvuyo Pupuma and a second for Kruger.

But it was too little too late for the Kings, who remain bottom of Conference B with just one win, while Benetton move above Edinburgh into fourth.

Kings – Tries: Tertius Kruger, Luvuyo Pupuma, Tertius Kruger. Conversions: Masixole Banda (2).
Benetton Treviso – Tries: Epalahame Faiva (3), Monty Ioane. Conversion: Ian McKinley.

Kings – 15 Michael Botha, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Meli Rokoua, 12 Tertius Kruger, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Masixole Banda, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Martinus Burger, 6 Cyril-John Velleman, 5 JC Astle (c), 4 Stephan Greeff, 3 Pieter Scholtz, 2 Kerron van Vuuren, 1 Nicolaas Oosthuizen.
Subs: 16 Tango Balekile, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Luvuyo Pupuma, 19 Schalk Oelofse, 20 Andries van Schalkwyk, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Ulrich Beyers, 23 Harlon Klaasen.

Benetton Treviso – 15 Angelo Esposito, 14 Ratuva Tavuyara, 13 Tommaso Iannone, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Ian McKinley, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Marco Barbini (c), 7 Michele Lamaro, 6 Giovanni Pettinelli, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Irné Herbst, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Epalahame Faiva, 1 Nicola Quaglio.
Subs: 16 Engjel Makelara, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Giuseppe Di Stefano, 19 Niccolò Cannone, 20 Marco Lazzaroni, 21 Giorgio Bronzini, 22 Antonio Rizzi, 23 Alberto Sgarbi.