Southern Kings coach Deon Davids said his team had nothing to prove in their 31-30 Super Rugby victory over the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, arguably the best result in the team's roller-coaster history in the competition.
The Kings confirmed on Friday that they would leave Super Rugby in 2018 after reaching a settlement with South African Rugby, and are now poised to join the Pro 12 in Europe.
Ironically, this has been their best season in the Southern Hemisphere club championship by a country mile, and they are guaranteed to finish above the fancied Bulls and Cheetahs in the log after their sixth win of the season.
Davids said the news of their Super Rugby axing had no impact on the result on Saturday, and that it was rather his players' skill and cohesion as a team.
"It's a bit of a disappointment. However, we never spoke of that, we entirely focused on the task at hand," Davids told reporters, adding that their Super Rugby experience had been invaluable to them as players.
"As players and coaches, we learned a lot. We enjoy being together and the players enjoy the team's culture and looking forward to doing our best next week.
"I said to [the players], if you in the situation that we are now, this will be the last Southern Kings team that ever played a Super Rugby game and if people look back at this team, they will look back at the individuals in terms of the skills that they exhibited, the passion, the pride, the heart, the soul that they've showcased and the fact that irrespective of what happened in life if your dreams are strong and you put in the proper hard work.
"You do things for the right reasons and you understand that you are here to serve and you are not here on your own, you here to give your all.
"If you can carry those values into a society or into a team and people gain inspiration out of that then that is the legacy that you want to leave," Davids said.
The Kings will play their final Super Rugby match on Friday at home to the Cheetahs, who will also exit the competition in 2018.