The Lions beat the Kings 19-12 in their warm-up match in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
Jaco Kriel opened the scoring for the Lions with a 10th-minute try and Derrick Minnie went over soon after. Marnitz Boshoff kicked both conversions to give the vistors a 14-0 lead.
The Kings responded when Sergeal Petersen ran away to score, with George Whitehead's conversion attempt going wide.
After conceding several penalties in the red zone, the Lions finally conceded a penalty try in the 57th minute that reduced the gap to two points.
But the visitors hit back with a third try, through Robbie Coetzee, that sealed the win.
Kings – Tries: Sergeal Petersen, penalty try. Conversion: George Whitehead.
Lions – Tries: Jaco Kriel, Derrick Minnie, Robbie Coetzee. Conversions: Marnitz Boshoff (2).
Kings – 15 Siviwe Soyizwapi, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Ronnie Cooke, 12 Shane Gates, 11 Michael Killian, 10 George Whitehead, 9 Jaco Grobler, 8 Devin Oosthuizen, 7 Darron Nell (c), 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Rynier Bernardo, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Charl du Plessis, 2 Dane van der Westhuysen, 1 BG Uys.
Subs: JC Oberholzer, Lizo Gqoboko, Vukile Sofisa, Stephan Zaayman, Stefan Greeff, Thembelani Bholi, Sonwabo Majola, Dwayne Jenner, Ntabeni Dukisa.
Lions – 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Chrysander Botha, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Stefan Watermeyer, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Michael Bondesio, 8 Warren Whiteley (c), 7 Derick Minnie, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Rudi Mathee, 3 Julian Redelinghuys, 2 Willie Wepener, 1 Schalk van der Merwe.
Subs: 16 Robbie Coetzee, 17 Jacques van Rooyen, 18 Corné Fourie, 19 Willie Britz, 20 Warwick Tecklenburg, 21 Faf de Klerk, 22 Willie du Plessis, 23 JW Jonker.
Photo: Michael Sheehan/Gallow Images