Port Elizabeth - The Southern Kings’ nightmare start to the PRO14 competition continued when they were thumped at home by Zebre on Saturday night.
The Italian side ran in six tries to win 43-17, having led 22-3 at half-time.
Both sides came into this match with three defeats to start the season and rooted to the bottom of their respective conferences.
The Kings were expected to give a good account of themselves at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, but it was Zebre - wooden spoonists in last season's PRO12 - who asserted themselves better.
This defeat will sting the Kings, who are in a rebuilding phase having lost most of their star Super Rugby players.
Next weekend, the Kings travel to Wales to face Newport Gwent Dragons (Saturday, September 30 - 20:35), while Zebre host Irish side Ulster on the same day (15:35).
Scorers:
Southern 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
Teams:
Southern 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 (captain), 1 Schalk Ferreira
Substitutes: 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 (captain), 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.
Substitutes: 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