Treviso piled further misery onto the Kings with a 28-5 victory in a torrential downpour in Treviso on Saturday. DYLAN JACK reports.
The win allows Treviso to bounce back from a three-match losing streak while the Kings have well and truly been brought back to earth after their win against the Glasgow Warriors.
The home side started strongly, forcing the Kings onto the back foot. It took just five minutes for them to open the scoring when hooker Luca Bigi went over from the back of a powerful maul.
As the rain poured down, Treviso adapted to the conditions better, with the Kings receiving a further blow when prop Justin Forwood was sent to the sin bin for cynical play.
The hosts took full advantage as from a 5m scrum, scrumhalf Dewald Duvenage picked up the ball and spotted a gap which he burst through for Treviso’s second of the match.
From another maul, the home side managed to force a penalty try, which resulted in the Kings losing another man, with Schalk Oelofse the man seeing yellow this time around.
Despite this, the visitors managed a response as Yaw Penxe stepped his way past a couple of would-be tacklers to bring the Kings some joy 10 minutes from the break to make it 21-5.
However, that joy was short-lived as Treviso piled on the pressure in the second half, winning penalty after penalty which left referee Craig Evans with no choice but to award a second penalty try and hand Forwood his second yellow and send him off.
The Kings did try and shrug their disadvantage aside and attempt a brave comeback. Something should be said for the fact that they dominated possession and did not concede a point from when they were reduced a man.
However, it was not enough as their discipline and handling errors proved costly whenever they got into threatening positions, with the visitors slumping to their second successive defeat.
Treviso – Tries: Luca Bigi, Dewaldt Duvenage, penalty tries (2). Conversions: Tommaso Allan (2).
Kings – Try: Yaw Penxe.
Treviso – 15 Jayden Hayward; 14 Ratuva Tavuyara, 13 Ignacio Brex, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Monty Ioane; 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Robert Barbieri (c), 7 Abraham Steyn, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Alessandro Zanni, 3 Tiziano Pasquali, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Nicola Quaglio
Subs: 16 Alberto De Marchi, 17 Derrick Appiah, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Irné Herbst, 20 Michele Lamaro, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Ian McKinley, 23 Alberto Sgarbi.
Kings – 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Harlon Klaasen, 12 Berton Klaasen, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Martin Du Toit, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Andisa Ntsila, 6 CJ Velleman, 5 John-Charles Astle, 4 Schalk Oelofse, 3 Luvuyo Pupuma, 2 Michael Willemse (c), 1 Justin Forwood
Subs: 16 Alandre Van Rooyen, 17 Lupumlo Mguca, 18 Rossouw De Klerk, 19 Bobby De Wee , 20 Marthinus Burger, 21 Ruan Van Rensburg, 22 Ntabeni Dukisa, 23 Tristan Blewet
