Wellington - Replacement Vince Aso and flyhalf Beauden Barrett scored late tries as the Wellington Hurricanes eventually overcame a resilient Kings side to clinch their Super Rugby match 42-20 on Friday.
It was the second successive week the Hurricanes had played a lot of rugby without putting the game away, having only pulled away from the Western Force in the final 20 minutes last week in Palmerston North.
On Friday, the Hurricanes execution at pace in the opening quarter had indicated another rout was on the cards for the Kings, who had conceded 158 points in their first three games this season upon their return to Super Rugby.
The home side scored tries to Ngani Laumape, Blade Thomson and Ardie Savea to establish a 19-3 lead in the first 25 minutes, with Thomson and Savea's efforts promoting their All Black call-up chances later in the year.
The Kings, however, refused to buckle and capitalised on a growing Hurricanes' error and penalty rate to reduce the deficit to 19-17 at halftime with tries to captain Steven Sykes, playing his 100th Super Rugby match, and flyhalf Louis Fouche.
The Hurricanes, playing into a stiff southerly wind in the second half, found themselves under more pressure and botched several try scoring opportunities.
Scrumhalf TJ Perenara chose to take contact rather than feed players outside him, prop Chris Eve then dropped the ball short of the line, while Laumape also failed to ground the ball against the goalpost padding.
That decision making will cause coach Chris Boyd some consternation as they head into their bye week and captain Dane Coles said after the match his players had been guilty of trying to do too much.
After five tries in the first half, the scoring was restricted to penalties in the second with Beauden Barrett slotting three to inch the Hurricanes to a 28-20 lead.
Aso then finished off another counter-attack in the 73rd minute after a break from prop Loni Uhila and brilliant pass from rangy loose forward Vaea Fifita before Barrett ran 40 metres in the final minute to blow the score out. – Reuters