Minutes before the man known as Tommy Turnover ran out for his long-awaited Test debut in Pretoria, a man who knows a thing or two about playing openside flanker for Wales offered his thoughts some 5,000 miles away.
Speaking in Sky Sports' London studio, former Wales captain Sam Warburton was asked for his opinion on the Welsh back-row. Two were well-known to him.
His long-time partners in crime, Dan Lydiate and Taulupe Faletau - with whom he had spent more than half a decade lining up alongside - were two of the three starters. The plus point for both was that they were clearly defined in their roles. Lydiate tackles everything that moves before him, while Faletau is the dynamic carrier.
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So what of the aforementioned Mr Turnover, Leicester Tigers' Tommy Reffell? Well, the benefits of his selection, according to Warburton, were similar to his back-row colleagues. His role is clearly defined.
For an openside purist like Warburton, Reffell is certainly his sort of player. He's not a hybrid - he's an out-and-out seven. At Loftus Versfeld in the first Test of this daunting summer tour, he did everything to show exactly why that number is so revered in this country.
Granted, Reffell's debut ended up being overshadowed by Wales' first-ever victory on South African soil being snatched away in a flurry of yellow cards, but a mix of tackles, breakdown interventions and sheer bloody-mindedness proved he's more than capable at this level. Once again, Wales have another openside on their hands.
From the off, the 23-year-old threw himself into the action. Twenty-two seconds into the match and Reffell was the first to a loose ball after South Africa failed to retain Kieran Hardy's exit.
Wales' kick-chase hasn't been brilliant of late, missing the shepherding work of Justin Tipuric as their second chaser to provide ruck support or clear things up. However, Reffell thrived in this role throughout the day, aided by the pitch-perfect kicking of Hardy as Wales got change out of the Springboks.
Beating South Africa of late can be summed up by paraphrasing an often-used quote of James Carville. "It's the kicking game, stupid." Having Reffell doing his fair share of chasing certainly helped Wales get a foothold there, while they used him in equally fascinating ways when the hosts were putting boot to ball.
There's nothing new in teams dropping their No. 8 to carry from receiving kicks. Reffell's club side, Leicester, have even experimented with England prop Ellis Genge moving back to offer some bulk from deep.
But Wales moved the debutant into the backfield and it paid dividends. The first time we saw Reffell drop back, he took a pass infield from Liam Williams before using his power and footwork to step through the tackle of Siya Kolisi.
Even though the Springbok captain made the tackle, it wasn't made on his terms. From there, Wales could set up to move it wide off decent ball.
Even when the Boks did not kick, as was the case when Lood de Jager broke away from a catching pod, Reffell provided value from deep. Scampering across the pitch, he scythed down the rampaging lock.
But, after a few tangents, back to that immediate impact. Mere seconds after diving on that loose ball, Reffell was hitting his first Test ruck in anger. Given Wales' struggles at the breakdown on both sides of the ball, particularly with attacking clearouts, there was a fair bit of pressure on Reffell's shoulders as Josh Navidi moved to the bench.
However, from that first clearout, Reffell by and large won the race to the clearout. One in particular saw Dan Biggar take the ball on the blindside of the scrum flatter than three-day-old Pepsi.
Stepping inside the first tackle, the fly-half is left isolated as Lukhanyo Am manages to get over the ball. Coming straight from the scrum, Reffell recognises the immediate threat and wipes Am off the ball and out of the ruck - with Faletau arriving close behind to secure possession.
It's perhaps the best example of the openside basics Reffell brought to the party. Wales' props do most of the clearout work, but there's no denying opensides like Reffell do the more effective work.
Just moments later, Reffell demonstrated another positive trait of an openside worth their salt. Tracking the play, he is virtually first on the scene after Faf de Klerk is dragged down short of the line after South Africa turned defence into attack.
Granted, Biggar was sent to the sin-bin for not rolling away, but Reffell's work to get back alongside his captain likely stopped the Springboks scoring a first-half try.
Elsewhere, he carried strongly in phase play and tackled everything before him. His 15 tackles throughout the 80 minutes were second only to Will Rowlands on the pitch.
Two of those tackles came in a brilliant scramble effort after a tip-on pass had split the Welsh defence in two. Reffell managed to get back and help bring Elton Jantjies down, before springing off the fly-half and stopping Ox Nche too.
The sign of a good openside is often when you can take a random screenshot of the action and see your flanker close to the action, like a shadow. Reffell certainly did that.
But perhaps what was most expected from him was his jackaling work. On that front, he delivered.
Reffell had a few nibbles early on, slowing down South African ball when he could before getting the chance of a first turnover around 26 minutes in.
From a South African scrum, Reffell tracks the play nicely, gets over the ball well and survives the initial clearout from Damian de Allende. Kolisi manages to shift him, but the ball has already been dislodged.
Unfortunately for Wales, it's away from Reffell's grasp - with de Klerk hacking it forward. As a result, Liam Williams had to trudge back to within metres of his line to re-gather.
Minutes later, he make no mistake. With South Africa fielding a goal line drop-out around midfield after a period of sustained pressure, Wales were certainly under the cosh at this point as the Springboks sought to work their way back into the match.
Wales' kick-chase is decent and, from there, Reffell is always monitoring the situation as South Africa play off nine. For a couple of phases, he bides his time and opts not to waste any bullets. A momentary glance tells him there's little South African clearout support on the next phase.
So, when de Jager runs straight into Gareth Thomas, Reffell strikes. He momentarily joins the hit, nudging de Jager to his side. From there, he clearly releases and immediately attaches himself to the ball like a vice.
Scrum-half de Klerk is the first on the scene, but even going low to get under Reffell doesn't shift him. Jantjies tries to unsettle him by hitting him on the back, but Reffell survives that too. By the time an actual Springbok forward arrives, the penalty has already been awarded.
The jackal obviously gets the plaudits, but the reading of the game - recognising the opportunity, understanding where the clearout support is and then influencing the tackle to suit his jackal - is superb.
It was perhaps fitting that, in a match that saw Wales wear black armbands in tribute to the late Phil Bennett, that the man wearing the jersey that has arguably overtaken the number 10 as the cultural touchstone in Wales would shine as much as he did.
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