Now I really know what playing at altitude is all about. Having previously visited South Africa with the Lions and England, I had experienced matches this high above sea level without feeling this affected but our win over the Royal XV in Phokeng was something very different.

We had trained for five days in Johannesburg at the same altitude, but the physical demands of a game are very different and my mouth was dry and I felt short of breath. Everyone was in the same situation and it made the whole experience very tough to deal with.

I am not using this as an excuse for our performance and while we did really well to dig ourselves out of trouble for that first win, dealing with the conditions here on the Highveld is a factor.

We had targeted the scrum as one area where we wanted to dominate the opposition and so you put real effort into every set piece but then, as you moved to the next phase of play, there was this real burning sensation in your thighs and quads which was difficult to shake off. The expert view is that your body really deals with the effects of playing at altitude after eight days and that coincides with our next game against the Golden Lions on Wednesday and I am sure the guys won't feel like we did against a Royal XV that really came at us.

Alun-Wynn Jones, who took over in the second row, came up to me after the match and asked how I had managed to last more than an hour in those conditions when he felt shattered after 20 minutes.

While I struggled with the effects of thinner air, Andrew Sheridan, our loose head prop, was left with shredded feet. He wore new boots and thanks to the heat and the sweat, he finished with huge blisters and is now walking gingerly around the team hotel.

Our next match will be played at Ellis Park, one of the most famous stadiums in world rugby, and the atmosphere will be very different and everyone in the squad knows we have to step up the level of our performance.

We made too many basic errors against the Royal XV and never seemed to be able to hold onto the ball long enough to put more than two or three phases together. However, we did not panic and produced the win that gives us vital momentum at the start of the tour.

We learned a lot more because it was a real contest and the rest of the squad watching in the stands were given a clear indication of what playing rugby in South Africa is all about.