Tonight:
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The Lions maintained their unbeaten start to the South African tour this afternoon but at a price as both Euan Murray and James Hook picked up injuries, writes Chris Jones.
Ugo Monye scored his fourth try of the tour and Ronan O'Gara kicked two penalties as the Lions prevailed 20-8 in a fiercely contested match with the newly formed Southern Kings.
Ian McGeechan's team now head into Saturday's First Test in Durban with a record of six wins out of six but the knocks picked up by Murray and Hook will be a concern. Welsh fly-half Hook had to leave the field after taking a blow to the head and Scottish prop Murray sustained an ankle problem.
The Lions were already missing Shane Williams, who started the match on the replacements' bench after failing to recover from a stomach bug and was replaced by Harlequins winger Monye. Springboks coach Peter de Villiers was among the crowd at the new Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium having announced earlier that Springbok flanker Schalk Burger will miss the First Test with a calf injury.
The ferocity of the locals brought back memories of previous notorious matches in Port Elizabeth, including the violent 1974 Third Test between the Lions and Springboks and the 1994 England battle with Eastern Province which saw Tim Rodber sent off for punching and Jon Callard needing more than 20 stitches in a head wound.
After a first-half battering, the Lions' situation was summed up by injured prop Euan Murray who headed to the dressing rooms on crutches with his right ankle strapped while Kings had two players yellow carded.
The bad feeling lingered after the final whistle as Gordon D'Arcy refused to shake De Wet Barry's hand while Ronan O'Gara and Jaco van der Westhuyzen had a pushing match.
The Kings are a new franchise created in an effort to get another South African team in the Super 14 and the players, who were drawn from all over the country, included former Harlequins centre Barry.
The assumption before kick-off was that they had to adopt a Barbarians mentality in the hope of catching the Lions off guard.
But it turned out to be very different, with the Kings thundering into their opponents from the off even though the tourists were fielding arguably the biggest pack in their history.
Gordon D'Arcy was the first victim of a late tackle as he jarred his shoulder following a challenge from Frikkie Welsh, then crocked Murray had to be replaced by Adam Jones.
Although the tourists were getting battered it was the Kings who took the lead through a penalty from Van der Westhuyzen, awarded after Simon Shaw was caught offside.
James Hook then took a heavy knock and was replaced by Ronan O'Gara after 12 fraught minutes for the Lions, who were being made to look very ordinary despite this being a last chance for the players to claim Test places for Durban on Saturday.
Losing two players so early on was a big concern for Lions head coach Ian McGeechan (left, with assistant Warren Gatland). The Kings continued thumping into any Lions body they could find, with Ronan O'Gara being harshly dealt with on the side of a ruck while Welsh referee Nigel Owens was oblivious to what was happening.
Van der Westhuyzen delivered a late and high hit on Riki Flutey which finally brought action with a yellow card after 19 minutes while Keith Earls was the only back to show any cutting edge for the Lions, but ruined a brilliant break with a forward pass.
O'Gara equalled the scores with a 27th-minute penalty and the Lions headed off at half-time bruised, battered and tied 3-3.
The second-half started with yet more trouble between Nathan Hines and prop Dean Greyling and the result was an O'Gara penalty which put the Lions into a 6-3 lead after 44 minutes. With Hines now intent on bad mouthing the opposition both captains were warned by the referee in an attempt to bring order to the break downs.
The shoddy pitch, part of which was heavily sanded, then claimed a victim in Kings wing Mathew Turner who needed his ankle heavily strapped after tripping up on loose turf.
The Lions finally got the first try of the game in the 51st minute which came thanks to a sublime piece of skillfrom O'Gara and a touch of luck.
The Ireland fly-half had the vision to place a crosskick behind the home side's cover, and Monye capitalised on a kind bounce to pounce for his fourth try of the tour, although it required detailed deliberation from the video referee before it was awarded.
O'Gara continued his superb kicking on tour with a touch-line conversion for a 13-3 lead.
Referee Owens gave a 69th minute penalty try after the Kings could not handle the Lions' scrum power and O'Gara's conversion eased the visitors' worries about losing their unbeaten record. The hosts reduced the deficit when flanker Mpho Mbiyozo crashed over with seven minutes remaining but the tourists held on.
Scorers: Kings — try Mbiyozo; pen Van der Westjuyzen. Lions — tries Monye, pen try; cons O'Gara 2; pens O'Gara 2.
