The mood in the Lions dressing room was a bit sombre, even though we defeated the Southern Kings to make it six wins in a row on tour, because in the week building up to the First Test against South Africa we were all desperate to put in a great performance.

The Kings players threw absolutely everything at us and we showed a lot of collective restraint because we could have let what they were doing get to us and it was obvious they wanted to get under our skins and affect our performance. We stuck to our game plan really well and came away with the win.

It was difficult with the way the Kings were coming at us and I thought the referee could have stepped in a little earlier because many of the cheap shots that were going on off the ball continued until the end of the game.

I know because I received a heavy blow to the side of my head and heard ringing in my ears for the last 10 minutes.

There were a lot of late hits in rucks, particularly when you were on the floor and not expecting that kind of contact, which means you are not set properly to take it. There's no real defence when you are crumpled up in a heap and there is a blow with a knee or someone throws the shoulder in.

It wasn't very pleasant but it became one of those games where you just have to tough it out and I thought we did reasonably well under the circumstances with what we had to put up with.

I wasn't aware that there was so much verbal stuff going on between the teams, although it was mentioned in the dressing room, and I was more concerned about the physical attentions of the locals.

The coaches asked us to give it our all in the match and that is exactly what I tried to do because it had been made very clear that with selection for the Test team only being made later today and announced tomorrow, there was still an opportunity for everyone to put their hand up.

While I wasn't able to produce the perfect game, at least they know I tried my very hardest and now it's a case of a nervous wait to find out if my performance was good enough to get me into the 22 because I really want to pull on that special Lions jersey.

The Lions tour so far has been pretty frustrating for me, with a start in the opening game and then not playing as well as I hoped and having to come off the bench a couple of times.

That is why I was so looking forward to my second start of the tour and I spoke to my family early yesterday and just told them how extremely happy I was when my name was read out to take on the Kings in Port Elizabeth.

I just wanted the chance to prove a point and now it's down to the selectors to work out if I have done enough to warrant a coveted place in the team or at least the chance to come off the bench.

We are now back in Durban and won't have any problems with the altitude this time, having already played on the Kings Park pitch against the Sharks earlier on in the tour.

With all the build-up games over, all I can do now is keep my fingers crossed and hope that, after three tours, I have done enough to play in my first Lions Test when the team is announced tomorrow.