The British & Irish Lions made it six wins from six on their tour of South Africa in the final warm-up game with an 8-20 win over the Southern Kings, but it was their worst performance of the trip to date.
This tour had been short on sheer physical confrontation until before this match, but the Kings' combative display at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth seemed to rattle Ian McGeechan's outfit.
The first-half was a physical and scrappy affair, characterised by a fearsome battle in the forwards, and although the Lions outscrummaged their opponents they also wasted the scoring opportunities that came their way.
Wasps lock Simon Shaw was penalised for offside in the very first minute and Jaco van der Westhuyzen put the Southern Kings 3-0 ahead.
Fly-half James Hook and centre Gordon D'Arcy were both on the end of crunching tackles in the early stages and the Lions' rhythm appeared to be upset as Hook was replaced by Irishman Ronan O'Gara and the tourists struggled to build any momentum.
Riki Flutey was taken high and late by Van der Westhuyzen midway through the half, and the fly-half was duly sent to the sin-bin for ten minutes.
In return, Ugo Monye did his chances of a Test berth no harm with a bone-crunching hit on the enormous prop Jaco Engels, while Lions wing Luke Fitzgerald was on the end of a juddering double hit.
O'Gara levelled the scores just before half-time but the Lions continued to fluff their lines with the ball in hand and would have been in for some harsh words from the management in the changing room.
Monye continued his assault on a Test place with the first try of the match soon after the break, before the Kings continued an assault of their own as De Wet Barry made contact with D'Arcy off the ball.
The Lions were soon putting on more pressure at the scrum and were awarded a penalty try on 68 minutes after three set-pieces collapsed. O'Gara duly converted the penalty and found time to have a friendly word with some of his opponents after taking the score to 20-3.
But the Kings answered back, and more mistakes from the Lions allowed Mpho Mbiyozo to score after a break by Van der Westhuyzen on the blindside.
It finished 8-20 to the Lions but none of them, with the exception of Monye, did their chances of a Test spot any good and such a disjointed display may have eased McGeechan's selectorial headaches.
