Kings' PRO14 campaign off to losing start

Cape Town - The Southern Kings started off their PRO14 campaign with a loss against Zebre at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Parma on Friday evening.

The Italian side won 32-16 after leading 17-7 at half-time.

As it happened: Zebre v Southern Kings

Zebre scored four tries through Oliviero Fabiani, Mattia Bellini, Jimmy Tuivaiti and Apisai Tauyavuca.

Flyhalf Carlo Canna landed three conversions and two penalties to see the home side to a comfortable victory in the first round.

For the visitors, the Kings could only manage a solitary try through debutant Michael Botha.

Flyhalf Masixole Banda slotted the conversion and three penalties for the South African side.

In next weekend's Round 2 action, the Southern Kings will travel to Wales to take on the Dragons on Saturday, September 8 (16:00 SA time), while Zebre will battle Connacht Rugby (Saturday, 15:05 SA time).

Scorers:

Zebre

Tries: Oliviero Fabiani, Mattia Bellini, Jimmy Tuivaiti, Apisai Tauyavuca

Conversions: Carlo Canna (3)

Penalties: Canna (2)

Kings

Try: Michael Botha

Conversion: Masixole Banda

Penalties: Banda (3)

Teams:

Zebre

15 Matteo Minozzi, 14 Mattia Bellini, 13 Giulio Bisegni, 12 Tommaso Castello, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Renato Giammarioli, 7 Johan Meyer, 6 David Sisi, 5 George Biagi (captain), 4 Leonard Krumov, 3 Dario Chistolini, 2 Oliviero Fabiani, 1 Andrea Lovotti

Substitutes: 16 Massimo Ceciliani, 17 Daniele Rimpelli, 18 Giosue Zilocchi, 19 Apisai Tauyavuca, 20 Jimmy Tuivaiti, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Francois Brummer, 23 Edoardo Padovani

Kings

15 Michael Botha, 14 Michael Makase, 13 Harlon Klaasen, 12 Berton Klaasen, 11 Yaw Penxe, 10 Masixole Banda, 9 Rudi van Rooyen, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Tienie Burger, 6 Henry Brown, 5 Bobby de Wee, 4 Schalk Oelofse, 3 Luvuyo Pupuma, 2 Michael Willemse (captain), 1 Justin Forwood

Substitutes: 16 Alandre van Rooyen, 17 Schalk Ferreira, 18 Luphumlo Mguca, 19 JC Astle, 20 Andisa Ntsila, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Martin du Toit, 23 Ulrich Beyers