A slow start put the Isuzu Southern Kings under early pressure when they slipped to a 28-5 defeat against Benetton Treviso at a rain-soaked Stadio Comunale di Monigo, Kings head coach Deon Davids said.
Benetton, who held a 21-5 lead at halftime, were too strong for the Kings, who have won only one of their opening six Guinness PRO14 matches.
Benetton took charge early on in the encounter when they opened a 14-0 lead after 22 minutes.
“We started too slowly and put ourselves under tremendous pressure,” Davids said.
“Conditions were difficult and some calls could have gone either way.
“Unfortunately, they went against us.
“That was also the case in stopping mauls and it is something we will have to look at.
“On the positive side, we had to play with 14 men for almost the entire second half and conceded only seven points.
“I think that was a great team effort.
“That was a positive in terms of character that we can take out of this match. The rest of the things we will just revisit and work on.”
The Italians raced into a lead that they never looked like relinquishing with a penalty try plus two further first-half scores from Luca Bigi and Dewaldt Duwenage.
A second penalty try after the break hammered home their advantage, with the Kings’ only consolation coming in the form of Yaw Penxe’s try just before the interval.
Kieran Crowley made seven changes to Benetton for the round-six clash, having slipped to three consecutive defeats in the Guinness PRO14.
It took Benetton just four minutes to get on the board.
With the Kings struggling to deal with Benetton’s driving lineout mauls, Bigi surged over the whitewash for his third try in the green jersey.
Tommaso Allan added the extras before Kings suffered another blow when Justin Forwood was sent to the bin, with Benetton almost capitalising immediately through Berton Klaasen.
He was held up on the line, but the Kings were soon exposed again.
Sustained pressure from the Benetton forwards left the visitors vulnerable and Duwenage took advantage to score.
Despite the Kings being restored to 15 men, they still had no answer for Benetton’s forward power and they conceded a third try before halftime.
The visitors were deemed to have stopped another Benetton maul illegally, with referee Craig Evans awarding a penalty try and sending Schalk Oelofse to the bin as a result.
When the Kings finally did wrestle the ball off the home side they looked dangerous.
Godlen Masimla went close first before linking up with Penxe, who stepped inside and touched down.
Masixole Banda failed with the conversion and Benetton went into the break with a 21-5 lead as they closed in on fourth win from four encounters against the Kings.
Just like the first half, the hosts were relentless at the start of the second period and came close to sealing the bonus point when Abraham Steyn was held up by Masimla.
His efforts proved in vain, though, as Benetton were gifted a second penalty try on 53 minutes, with Forwood being sent for an early bath after being shown a second yellow card.