Cape Town - The Chiefs have proved far too strong for a game Southern Kings side running out 58-24 winners in a Super Rugby encounter played at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.
Despite their difficult build-up to the tournament and coming off a bye in the second round, the Kings showed plenty of heart by pushing their more fancied rivals throughout the first half.
The Chiefs still managed to score three converted tries through captain Sam Cane, Damian McKenzie and Taleni Seu.
McKenzie also added two penalties.
The Kings were rewarded for their never-say-die attitude with a try on the stroke of half-time through hooker Edgar Marutlulle
Louis Fouche kicked four penalties for the home side but the Chiefs led 27-17 at the break.
In the second half, the a rampant Chiefs side added further tries through Charlie Ngatai, Aaron Cruden, Sam Cane and Glen Fisiiahi to run away with the encounter, while Marutlulle scored his second for the home side.
McKenzie added a penalty on the stroke of full time for the visitors.
Next weekend the Kings travel to New Zealand to play the Crusaders while the Chiefs are in Argentina to face the Jaguares.
Scorers:
Kings
Tries: Edgar Marutlulle (2)
Conversions: Louis Fouche
Penalties: Fouche (4)
Chiefs
Tries: Sam Cane (2), Damian McKenzie, Taleni Seu, Charlie Ngatai, Aaron Cruden, Glen Fisiiahi
Conversions: McKenzie (7)
Penalties: McKenzie (3)
Teams
Kings
15 Jurgen Visser 14 Luzuko Vulindlu 13 Stefan Watermeyer 12 Shane Gates 11 Malcolm Jaer 10 Louis Fouche 9 Ntando Kebe 8 Jacques Engelbrecht 7 Thembelani Bholi 6 Chris Cloete 5 JC Astle 4 Steven Sykes (captain) 3 Jacobie Adriaanse 2 Edgar Marutlulle 1 Schalk Feirreira
Substitutes: 16 Sithembiso Sithole 17 Martin Bezuidenhout 18 Tom Botha 19 Schalk Oelofse 20 CJ Velleman 21 Kevin Luiters 22 Elgar Watts 23 Jaco van Tonder
Chiefs
15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Glen Fisiiahi, 13 Seta Tamanivalu, 12 Charlie Ngatai, 11 James Lowe, 10 Aaron Cruden (co-captain), 9 Brad Weber, 8 Michael Leitch, 7 Sam Cane (co-captain), 6 Taleni Seu, 5 Johan Bardoul, 4 Michael Allardice, 3 Siate Tokolahi, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Mitchell Graham
Substitutes: 16 Rhys Marshall, 17 Pauliasi Manu, 18 Atu Moli, 19 James Tucker, 20 Maama Vaipulu, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Anton Lienert-Brown, 23 Sam McNicol