Dave Rennie will be a happy coach this week despite the sloppy nature of Australia's 23-21 win over a second-string France at Suncorp Stadium.
That's the verdict of All Blacks great Andrew Mehrtens after watching Les Bleus capitulate after leading 15-0 early on in the first of three Tests on Wednesday night.
It was only Rennie's second win as Wallabies coach since taking the reins last year and Mehrtens reckoned it left him in that sweet spot that perfectionist mentors crave.
"It's almost a perfect result for him," Mehrtens said on Stan Sport.
"There's plenty to work on, I don't think any of the players are going to be getting ahead of themselves and thinking they're world champions after that.
"But much better working on that after a win and a little bit of confidence and you can really look analytically about what went on.
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"As the French will be doing that as well.
"He prides himself on that up-front work as well and I think the scrum will have been very satisfying for him."
The two teams now focus on recovery ahead of Tuesday's rematch in Melbourne as France to keep the series alive by posting their first win in Australia since 1990.
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The Wallabies looked like they had been the team stuck in hotel quarantine early on as France winger Gabin Villiere struck twice to rattle the hosts.
The whole first half was pretty poor from an Australian perspective but with Michael Hooper at the tiller they got better the longer the match wore on.
Perhaps understandable in the first outing of 2021.
"We made it hard work, didn't we?
"Gave them a healthy lead to start with and we fought our way back in," Rennie said.
"We've just got to be a little bit more clinical and accurate and we probably bombed a few opportunities late. But happy to get there in the end."
Rennie said composure was the key message of his halftime talk as the Wallabies tried to maintain possession and punish the ill disciplined tourists.
He was also thrilled for his three debutants off the bench.
"Really happy for them, I thought Darcy had a really big impact when he came on," Rennie said.
"Lachie (Lonergan), he's going to be a really good hooker for us long-term.
"Andrew Kellaway was half a metre away from maybe grabbing a try with his first touch.
"It's nice for them and a proud moment for them and their families."
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