The Kings remain winless in the Pro14 after losing 43-17 to Zebre in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, writes SIMON BORCHARDT.
Both sides came into this match with three defeats in this season’s Pro14 and rooted to the bottom of their respective conferences. Home-ground advantage made the rebuilding Kings slight favourites, but it was Zebre – wooden spoonists in last season’s Pro12 – who came away with a convincing win.
The Italian club dominated territory and possession, while their scrum was superior. The Kings’ biggest weakness in this competition has been their defence, and they again slipped far too many tackles, especially in the first half.
Zebre set the tone for this match by scoring two tries in the first five minutes.
First, Tommaso Castello went over despite some good defensive work from Luvuyo Pupuma that initially managed to keep the ball off the ground. But the TMO ruled that the Zebre captain got it down eventually without making a double movement.
The Italians then stormed back onto the attack after forcing a turnover on their 10m line, taking play to within 5m of the Kings’ tryline. Three phases later, Mattia Bellini picked up the ball from the back of a ruck and dived over to make it 12-0.
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Pieter-Steyn de Wet got the Kings on the board with a penalty, but another sustained attack from Zebre at the end of the first quarter saw Renato Giammarioli go over in the left-hand corner. Canna slotted the touchline conversion and added a penalty to give his side a 22-3 lead after 27 minutes.
Zebre pushed hard for another try after the half-time hooter, but knocked on close to the line much to the hosts’ relief.
However, they needed just seven minutes of the second half to get their bonus-point try. From a lineout, Canna’s inside pass saw Bellini break through the defence, and good hands from him and Castello sent Tommaso Boni away.
The Kings responded with their first try when Dries van Schalkwyk intercepted a Zebre pass and kicked ahead for Godlen Masimla, who won the race to the ball.
That sparked the hosts back to life, and they crossed the line again soon after when Pupuma crashed over from close range. De Wet again slotted the conversion to reduce the deficit to 12.
But with 15 minutes to go, Zebre opted to scrum from a penalty slap in front of the posts. The gamble paid off with Giulio Bisegni diving over in the right-hand corner to end the Kings’ comeback.
The Italians then wrapped up the win with a 79th-minute try to Jacopo Sarto.
Kings – Tries: Godlen Masimla, Luvuyo Pupuma. Conversions: Pieter-Steyn de Wet (2). Penalty: De Wet.
Zebre – Tries: Tommaso Castello, Mattia Bellini, Renato Giammarioli, Tommaso Boni, Giulio Bisegni, Jacopo Sarto. Conversions: Carlo Canna (4), Serafin Bordoli. Penalty: Canna.
Kings – 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Berton Klaasen, 12 Luzuko Vulindlu, 11 Sibusiso Sithole, 10 Pieter-Steyn de Wet, 9 Rudi van Rooyen, 8 Andisa Ntsila, 7 Victor Sekekete, 6 Khaya Majola, 5 Dries van Schalkwyk, 4 Stephen Greeff, 3 Luvuyo Pupuma, 2 Michael Willemse (c), 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Subs: 16 Stephan Coetzee, 17 Rossouw de Klerk, 18 Martin Dreyer, 19 Bobby de Wee, 20 Freddy Ngoza, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Oliver Zono, 23 Jacques Nel.
Zebre – 15 Matteo Minozzi, 14 Giulio Bisegni, 13 Tommaso Boni, 12 Tommaso Castello (c), 11 Mattia Bellini, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Renato Giammarioli, 7 Giovanni Licata, 6 Johan Meyer, 5 George Biagi, 4 David Sisi, 3 Roberto Tenga, 2 Oliviero Fabiani, 1 Andrea Lovotti.
Subs: 16 Sami Panico, 17 Andrea De Marchi, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Jacopo Sarto, 20 Derick Minnie, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Serafin Bordoli, 23 Ciaran Gaffney.
Photo: Richard Huggard/BackpagePix
