Edinburgh scored nine tries to claim a commanding 61-13 win over the Kings at Murrayfield on Saturday night.
Edinburgh were always favoured to come out on top in this fixture. But to see the Kings capitulate in the manner they did was totally unexpected.
Not only did the visitors leak nine tries, but foul play also led to them conceding a red card in the 12th minute and a yellow card in the 67th minute.
Hooker and former Kings captain Michael Willemse starred for Edinburgh and capped off his fine performance with a try. Other South Africans who contributed to the Kings’ downfall were try-scorer Duhan van der Merwe and flyhalf Jaco van der Walt, who knocked over seven conversions.
The Kings started brightly and were rewarded early on with a try by Erich Cronje, who latched onto a well-weighted kick pass to dot down. But all their hard work was undone when prop Pieter Scholtz was red carded for striking an opponent in the throat.
Edinburgh ran in three quick tries to take the lead, but the Kings responded with an unconverted try and a penalty to go into the break trailing just 19-13.
That, however, was their last points of the match as Edinburgh seized control of the contest in the second half with six unanswered tries for a bonus point win that takes them to the top of the Conference B standings.
The Kings are languishing at the bottom of the same conference.
Edinburgh – Tries: Michael Willemse, Duhan van der Merwe, Matt Scott, James Johnstone, Eroni Sau, Dave Cherry, Charlie Shiel, Mark Bennett, Penalty try. Conversions: Jaco van der Walt (7), Automatic conversion.
Kings – Tries: Erich Cronje, JT Jackson.
Penalty: Jackson.
Edinburgh – 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Eroni Sau, 13 James Johnstone, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Henry Pyrgos (c), 8 Nick Haining, 7 John Barclay, 6 Magnus Bradbury, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Lewis Carmichael, 3 WP Nel, 2 Mike Willemse, 1 Jamie Bhatti.
Subs: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Ben Toolis, 20 Luke Crosbie, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Simon Hickey, 23 Mark Bennett.
Kings – 15 Courtney Winnaar, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Sibusiso Sithole, 12 Howard Mnisi (c), 11 Erich Cronje, 10 John-Thomas Jackson, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Ruaan Lerm, 5 Aston Fortuin, 4 Jerry Sexton, 3 Pieter Scholtz, 2 Jacques du Toit, 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Subs: 16 Alandre van Rooyen, 17 Xandre Vos, 18 De-Jay Terblanche, 19 JC Astle, 20 Bobby de Wee, 21 Theo Maree, 22 Bader Pretorius, 23 Andell Loubser.
Photo: Ross Parker/SNS Group/SRU
