Les Kiss may have entered the postmatch press conference with a wry smile on his face after his Wallabies claimed his first ever win as international coach, but it was scrappy and there would have been plenty of nervous moments as they snuck home with a three-point 35-32 victory over Japan.
In sweltering conditions that saw the temperature peak at over 30 degrees and humidity make the field feel like a sauna, the Wallabies persisted with a high-risk, high-tempo gameplan that played straight into Japan's hands for much of the proceedings, with only segments of classy touches keeping the scoreline just out of reach.
Since taking over the Wallabies group two weeks ago Kiss has continually reinforced his "evolution, not revolution" mantra, determined to build off Joe Schmidt's framework, while giving his team license to play with freedom, play to what's in front of them but be unafraid to express themselves.
We witnessed it in play through several passages on Saturday evening. The side's first phase try off the lineout in the 26th minute with Tom Wright racing over in the left corner after the side simply put the ball through the hands from right to left, burning the Japan defenders on the outside and building their lead.
Harry Potter's opener in the 15th minute was similar. The ball spread through the hands from edge to edge, with some deception through the middle, before he used his quick feet to bypass the defender and cross in the left corner. While there was a lack of accuracy -- Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii's pass onto Josh Canham going to ground with Potter forced to clean up the loose ball -- it had the hallmarks of a side not afraid to use their hands and their pace to beat the defence.
According to Wallabies captain Harry Wilson the ball felt like soap through the match, slippery with sweat and the humidity, as Japan looked to run the side ragged, and came close to doing so after Wallabies lock Miles Amatosero was shown a yellow card elevated to red for a dangerous clean out on Warner Dearns late in the first half. Playing with a man down for 20 minutes, the Wallabies were forced to dig deep, which is exactly what they did.
"The conditions were very tough, and we obviously had a few weeks to prepare for it and I think that really put us in some good stead to feel a bit more acclimatised than we could have," Wilson said after the match.
"Once we had the red, we knew we'd run the pump there, but we got a little bit lucky knowing there was halftime in the middle and [I] thought the coaches gave us a really good plan how to play with the red card for the next 11 minutes of the second half.
"That put us in a pretty good position there, and then, once we got second roll back on the field, it gave us a lot more confidence, but saying that, they just didn't go away with it. They were on us all again."
The Wallabies were hemmed down inside their own half for the opening 10 minutes, pushed back by a relentless Japan attack that looked to go wide before cutting back inside and using their kicks to turn the defence around, forcing both Ryan Lonergan and Declan Meredith to put boot to ball and find touch. Their clearing kicks gave the Wallabies hardly any breathing room though and Japan exploited the possession and territory.
Thirteen minutes in and 21-year-old Japan sensation and rising flyhalf Ryunosuke Ito demonstrated exactly why Eddie Jones had put so much faith in the young star to elevate him to Test level before he had even run out in Japan's professional tier one competition.
Leading his backline around a disjointed Wallabies defence, Ito had his teammates cutting the edges, coming back inside and burning defenders once more, before he spotted the gap for himself, put on some footwork to slice through and open the scoring for the night.
It was illustrative of a team that was unafraid to use their pace and their skillset to pressure the Wallabies to the closing whistle.
It would take just three minutes for the Wallabies to hit back with their own though first through Potter and then again 10 minutes later through Wright. But Japan refused to go away and with the Wallabies playing a man down for the final 10 minutes of the half, the Brave Blossoms chopped through the disjointed defence once again, with No. 8 Faulua Makisi crashing over and levelling the scores.
Returning to the pitch a player down the Wallabies produced some of their best play for the whole night. They were direct with the ball carries, bent the defence and burned the left edge early with Max Jorgensen crossing within the opening minutes. But the errors persisted and minutes later a bad defensive read from Suaalii had Japan over once more. A missed conversion the only difference between the two sides.
One off dominant moments, such as an Angus Bell breakdown penalty in the 47th minute, gave the side an edge and led directly to Fraser McReight's try two minutes later, but they never truly dominated the match.
While the lineout and scrum continued to hum as they had under Schmidt, the back three failed once again to gain a foothold under the high ball, multiple times bullied out of the space, while the error rate was high and truly wasteful. As the team looked to play wide and expansive to match the frantic pace, it was clear a route one game plan was needed to settle the game. The lack of voice from leadership to calm the proceedings was absent.
Once again Meredith struggled at fly-half with several compounding errors hurting the Wallabies making it unlikely he'll be wearing the No. 10 jersey again this season -- bar injury.
But, perhaps, the most frustrating of the night was seeing the Wallabies once again leave plenty of points on the pitch. Loose carries, wayward passes and disjointed attacking lines saw at least three tries bombed as they failed to put Japan away midway through the second and instead opened the door for a much tighter finish.
"I think we hurt ourselves way too much, but when we held onto the ball [and] went through them, I thought we looked really good too," Wilson said.
"We pushed the pass too often. In these conditions, the ball is soaked, and we probably needed to be a bit smarter with it.
"In defence, sometimes we were a bit lazy. A few passive tackles and they get quick ball, and then they really put you under the pump."
While a late Dearns try had Japan threatening a historic boilover and a first Test win over the Wallabies, it wasn't to be with the men in gold repelling one final restart on the siren. But despite the many tense and frustrating moments, Kiss will walk away satisfied. A win is a win and is exactly how he needed his Wallabies tenure to begin.
"We expected nothing less than what the Japanese team put out tonight," Kiss said after the match. "I've got to give them credit for sure the way they played the game, but when we had to find a way, we did find a way.
"Our defence was solid and repelled them when it was important, I thought.
"We're very proud of the effort. We had to pull out all stops, so it's a good win, a good solid win with some good quality in there and a few things to work on."