The Test arena can be a lonely place for an athlete making their debut.
And Bloemfontein feels a long way from home, much further away than Pretoria. The flight over is across vast expanses of barren land and suddenly a city appears. It’s unforgiving territory.
Step forward Sam Wainwright.
The 24-year-old is yet to start a first class game at club level, with the majority of his appearances for Saracens coming off the bench. He was thrust into the Free State Stadium with 15 minutes remaining to earn his debut and at the time, Wales trailed 12-3.
Read next: You can see how we rated each Wales players and mark them yourself here.
A solid half hour before he entered the fray, he was out on the pitch during the half time interval, warming up with Alun Wyn Jones, the most capped player in the history of the game. What a luxury for Wales to be able to put a new face in such close proximity to so much experience, what a comforting feeling that must have been as they did lengths of the field, passing a ball.
Then, when a scrum collapsed on top of Wales in the 65th minute, leaving Dillon Lewis strewn on the turf, Wainwright knew his time was coming.
He sprung to his feet and did a 25 metre sprint, which stopped dead in line with two very important people. His mum Linda and dad Shaun, who were in the crowd. If he saw them, he didn’t acknowledge them but this was the biggest moment of his life and laser focus was required.
Ryan Elias, who had been 49 minutes of toil himself, got up to issue some words of encouragement and offered to hold a tackle shield for Wainwright to warm his shoulder up. Then it was time.
He strode onto the field and exchanged words with experienced loose-head Wyn Jones. Then there was a tap on the backside from three-time British and Irish Lion Taulupe Faletau. All with the intention of just calming the nerves of the man from Bodelwyddan.
But how well he did. During his first ever scrum at Test level, opposing loose-head Ntuthuko Mchunu was pinged for not driving straight. It allowed Gareth Anscombe to put Wales in a position to score the match-winning points. He was heavily involved in that passage too and as Anscombe lined up the final conversion, back towards the 10 metre line, Adam Beard was giving Wainwright a hug and issuing more words of encouragement.
Then came the biggest scrum of his life. Wainwright stayed square and locked out as hard as he could as the Boks scrummaged for a penalty that would have won them the match. But it never came and, for that, Wainwright can be incredibly proud.
Afterwards, there was a massive hug with fitness guru Paul Stridgeon, who lives every moment on the touchline. Stridgeon, half the size of Wainwright, leapt into the arms of Wales’ newest Test cap. The north Walian will have felt a million dollars. Then came a special moment.
He spotted his mum and dad in the stand as members of the Welsh management and players embraced each other all around. He ran over to the edge of the field and shared a long embrace with his parents and fiance. A memory that will live forever.
Though the workload might be about to get a whole lot heavier. Starting tight-head Lewis was in a significant amount of pain when he came from the field and was seen in a sling after the match. The chances of him playing a part in the series decider in Cape Town look slim and with Tomas Francis already back in Wales after suffering a concussion, Wainwright could well be in line to start next week as Pivac is faced with a problem that may have seemed insurmountable not so long ago.
At the other end of the spectrum is former skipper Jones, who has been a Test player since Wainwright was nine years of age. When he came on to the field in the 54th minute, one of the first things he did was have a brief chat with referee Angus Gardner.
The next time the pair spoke, two minutes later, it was for the Aussie official to flash a yellow card in Jones’ direction. Initial replays show the decision to be a farce. Jones was pinged for handling in the ruck but TV footage indicates the ball spewed out the side of the breakdown off a South African foot. Nonetheless, history will not recall that.
The tour is not going his way and it will be a difficult time for a man who has so often been at the forefront of everything. The strange decision was still rankling him at the end of the match. As a man who has toured this country three times now and been involved in five consecutive losses stretching back to 2008, you hope he is able to enjoy an historic first win over the Springboks on South African soil.
Early in the match, things threatened to get a little out of hand when Liam Williams felt that Jesse Kriel tried to clear him out of a ruck by making contact with the back of the Welshman’s head. The full-back slapped the opposing outside centre on the back before gesticulating towards the touch judge.
The next phase saw Kriel run down Williams’ channel. The Welshman sent him packing with a thunderous dump tackle that drew a gasp from the crowd.
It was also interesting to note that, after Anscombe booted the ball deep into the South Africa 22 shortly before the decisive score, centre Nick Tompkins was holding court in a mini huddle that involved the replacement fly-half, George North and Louis Rees-Zammit. It suggests Wales may have a new leader on their hands, with nice guy Tompkins developing into a real communicator in the midfield.
Finally, the performance of Dan Lydiate on Saturday night will live long in the memory. It was one of his finest hours in a Welsh jersey and summed him up.
When he finally trudged to the sideline to be replaced by Josh Navidi in the 59th minute, he’d made 18 tackles. The early stats show that is eight more than the next best on the field. There were some thunderous collisions too, most notably when the returning former World Player of the Year Pieter-Steph du Toit came charging around the corner, only to be scythed down in trademark fashion.
The way Lydiate put his body on the line deserves huge amounts of credit. He will be sore for a few days after this one but, after the injuries he has overcome, these moments will be worth it.
Adam Jones, Dan Biggar and Sam Warburton rave about new Wales international
Wales v South Africa player ratings as Dan Lydiate blows everyone away and Anscombe holds nerve
Alun Wyn Jones left flabbergasted by shocking mistake as furious team-mates pleaded with referee
