Southern Kings produce a comeback win for the ages

Despite the quicksand the Southern Kings find themselves in, they seem to save their best when adversity stares them coldly in the eye.

Presented with a similar situation in 2013, when they had to swap places with the Lions, they produced some stunning come-from-behind rugby.

Even if their existence is snuffed out through no fault of their own, April 21 will be etched in the minds of those who witnessed and took part.

Their 26-24 win over the Waratahs on Friday may look close, but once they overturned the 17-0 deficit to lead by nine points with 10 minutes left, they had fashioned one of the most remarkable comebacks in Super Rugby history.

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While they were culpable in their 46-41 and 47-34 defeats to the Force and the Reds, all the Kings needed was composure in defence to marry with their attacking talent.

Southern Kings coach Deon Davids expected his team to produce a positive result in accordance with their gradual improvement from their indifferent Perth performance.

"From the start we've had the approach of focusing on what we can control and we must keep on working on our own game.

"We were disappointed by the last two results because we thought we played very good rugby but we let ourselves down.

"There's great camaraderie among the players and we've just focused on becoming better as a team," Davids said.

"The boys deserve it and it wasn't an issue of me motivating them to do their best. As individuals, they want to grow and they want to get better. That can make a huge difference."

Regardless of what happens in the rest of their campaign, their triumph could be regarded as one of their most significant against Australia.

Though their 22-10 win against the Force back in 2013 is unforgettable, the Waratahs had five survivors from the Michael Cheika-coached unit that dissected Alan Solomons' side 72-10 in Port Elizabeth.

Israel Folau, Michael Hooper, Bernard Foley, Rob Horne and Paddy Ryan were part of the 11-try romp that cruelly exposed the Kings' deficiencies at the time.

Their tenacity allowed the Kings to beat the Highlanders the following week despite being crushed.

Another comparison from that surprising 2013 campaign was how they improved as the tour progressed.

They rebounded from a 55-20 loss to the Crusaders in their first week on tour to a 30-27 win against the Rebels in Melbourne.

block_quotes_start It's been an emotional three weeks and the events have not only put pressure on the coaches, players and administrators, but our families block_quotes_end

Another fightback on that tour was their 28-all draw against the Brumbies in Canberra through Cornell du Preez's on-the-hooter converted try. Clearly there is something about a trip to Australia that brings the best out of the Kings.

This is the same country where anti-South African participation sentiment in Super Rugby is feverishly high.

Dealing with the white noise around their exit has been difficult for them, but captain Lionel Cronje said they've been using it as motivation.

"It's been an emotional three weeks and the events have not only put pressure on the coaches, players and administrators, but our families. There's three months left of this competition and this won't be our last win of this tournament.

"This win has been testament to the character of our team and how the players have stood up to these challenges," Cronje said.