South Africa captain John Smit was full of praise for his side as they beat Wales 43-17 in Bloemfontein on Saturday, in what was the side's first game under new coach Peter de Villiers.
Not only that but it was Smit's fiftieth as captain and on an emotional day he was at the heart of a solid performance from a new-look side.
Despite the relatively short period of time in which the Springboks had to work together in the build up to the first Test Smit feels they acquitted themselves very professionally.
"I think the big advantage we can take out of this win is that we were well prepared considering we had so little time together," Smit said.
"Every year the Super 14 gets longer, as does the Tri-Nations, which means the time to prepare gets less and less. Four years ago we had three weeks to gel while this time we had just a week and a half.
"The progress we have made as a new team with a new coach has been phenomenal. Although I think we need to keep perspective that this is just one game of around fourteen this year and we have a lot still to work on.
"It is certainly a good first step for us though."
With Wales coming to the home of the world champions as the champions of Europe there was much hope for two classic Test matches, sadly that was not the case.
Instead Wales made the trip without several key members of their side and with several uncapped or vastly unexperienced players in their squad.
Despite their best efforts Wales were simply no match for South Africa as the hosts ran in four tries to go with a perfect nine out of nine kicks from fly-half Butch James.
Smit claimed that it was not the right time of the year to be comparing the two sides.
"There was a lot of hype around this game being the World Champions against the Six Nations Champions but it is a difficult time of the year to judge both sides," he said.
"They have just come off quite a long season back in the UK and certainly we are only just getting going on the Test front so it is always difficult to compare that kind of thing.
"We knew they were going to be a tough challenge and they certainly came here with a lot of confidence. All the talk in the week about their physically approach made us switch on and ensure we were ready to match them in that department.
"The challenge for us was we knew the rush defence was going to be a problem, and I think we did reasonably well against it with the ball we had.
"We have got a lot to work on and I have no doubt Wales will be a lot better prepared when they arrive in Pretoria next week as well."
Speaking on the new era in South African rugby Smit was impressed that the squad had retained the lessons learnt under previous coach Jake White, as well as embracing Peter de Villiers' approach to the game.
"Things keep on changing," Smit revealed.
"Like I said earlier in the week we would be foolish to leave behind all the lessons we have learnt in the last four years and I think that was apparent in how we started the Test.
"The last four years helped us gel in the manner that we did in only the first Test of the year but we are also in for another very exciting four years.
"Peter's personality and character as a coach is not one many South African rugby players have experienced before.
"If we just make sure we keep the responsibility we have as players and do our jobs I think the influence Peter has could create a perfect balance for us moving forward now."
The hooker, who is yet to decide where he will play his rugby next year, revealed the emotions were running high on this his fiftieth Test as captain.
"It was a very special moment for me," he said.
"I had a lot of nerves before this game, a new era under Peter and he has put a huge amount of faith in me without really knowing me that well.
"My goal was to make sure I didn't let Peter down and to do that on the same day that you run out as captain for the fiftieth time is a real privilege.
"I have been lucky and I think I have just been in the right place at the right time over the last fifty Tests and have always had a great bunch of guys around me.
"It was emotional, I struggled to get the first few verses out in the national anthem but in the end I think it worked out pretty well."
On the evidence of this Test there is no reason why Smit can no go on to become the most capped Springbok captain of all time, needing just ten more caps as skipper to do so. Although as he said the most important thing is the next Test as they take on Wales in Pretoria on Saturday.
By Marcus Leach in Bloemfontein