It was not as if the Springboks didn’t get some things their way. In fact, I counted that they ‘won’ the first six aerial battles of the game, either regaining kicks cleanly or proving more adept at hoovering up the scraps. That was a major endorsement of their preferred strategy.

However, the Wallabies were also able to impose their own game plan, which is the antithesis to South Africa’s go-slow modus operandi.

A small but significant moment in the game occurred just after Springboks captain Siya Kolisi was sent to the sin bin. The Wallabies kicked the ball to touch with one thing in mind: speed.

We’re not talking about foot speed here, we’re talking about overall pace. Hooker Folau Fainga’a was handed the ball for the lineout and threw it in less than a second, and the Wallabies executed a sharp lineout move that saw the No.2 get a second touch and put Samu Kerevi into a half-gap with a short pass.

This is how Australia and New Zealand teams like to play, and when it’s done right it stresses even good sides such as the Springboks, and the end result was the fine try to Andrew Kellaway.

Certain qualifications have to be made. The Springboks will likely come out breathing fire against the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday, and it’s possible their quarantine period dulled their wits and reflexes last week: the bookies like them to gain revenge this weekend.

But, having looked down at Australian rugby during the struggles of Super Rugby Trans Tasman, there may already be a greater appreciation of Australian rugby among South African observers.

Of course, it goes without saying that the Springboks’ style of play would send Australian audiences to sleep. And, if Australian fans were forced to embrace the United Rugby Championship - a nine-month competition punctuated by two major Test windows - rugby would be on its deathbed in Australia within two years.

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But the aesthetics argument is the lesser one here. For rugby in this region to have real credibility - and Super Rugby Pacific is a big part of that - then it has to be clear that it is successful as well as entertaining.

That’s why this Rugby Championship is so meaningful for Australia and New Zealand. If they finish the Rugby Championship on top of the Springboks and the Pumas, then Super Rugby Pacific will be the indirect beneficiary.

It would be something of an unlikely outcome. The competition was confirmed without fanfare in August after months of acrimony. But by February, when it kicks off, it may be able to reasonably claim that in the quality of rugby, at least, it has no peer in the world.

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