The Southern Kings participated in their first ever Super Rugby competition in 2013. They won three, drew one and lost twelve of their matches during the regular season to finish fifth and last in the South African Conference and fifteenth and last on the overall log. Their top try scorer in the competition was Wimpie van der Walt, who got six tries, and their top points scorer was Demetri Catrakilis, who scored 142 points. As a result of finishing bottom of the South African Conference, they had to play a two-legged promotion/relegation play-off series against the Lions. The Lions beat them 44–42 on aggregate to return to Super Rugby in 2014 at the expense of the Kings.