If Springboks coach Allister Coetzee is as relieved as South African rugby fans are, he's hidden it well.
Having won successive tests for the first time in nearly a year, and put an end for now to a drastic slump, Coetzee's assessment of South Africa's series win over France has been clearly cautious.
''Look, we haven't achieve anything yet as a Springbok team,'' Coetzee said after the Boks took a 2-0 lead in the three-test series.
But there was also space for a fair chunk of optimism.
''If we continue to build like we are building, we will definitely be a force in the future,'' he added.
Despite facing a French team that's nearing the end of their season and who, juggling with weary players, started the series with an understrength lineup, the successive victories have provided the Springboks with some desperately needed relief. It's restored a measure of confidence for the two-time world champion after a morale-shattering season last year.
Coetzee is aware New Zealand, Australia, and Argentina still await South Africa this season and, more immediately, a France team playing for pride could still seriously undermine the Springboks' apparent revival.
With a third win expected, Coetzee's Springboks would regard defeat as a new setback.
France coach Guy Noves didn't hide his disappointment after the first two tests, bemoaning the fact that though they have a reputation for enjoying a forward fight, they were physically inferior in 37-14 and 37-15 defeats.
''We are realizing how much work we have to do to be competitive,'' Noves said.
Yet, if there's a game where the unpredictable brilliance of French rugby could resurface, it's the final test at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
A dead rubber maybe, but both coaches avoided wholesale changes for the series-ender, sensing there's more meaning to this game than meets the eye.
Noves retained the same forward pack that succumbed in the second test in Durban, giving them a chance to right those wrongs.
''We have to play for pride,'' captain and hooker Guilhem Guirado said.
In the backs, the coach recalled flyhalf Jules Plisson and fullback Brice Dulin, and made an injury-enforced change on the wing where Nans Ducuing starts after coming on as a replacement early in the second test.
France play for pride, yes, but also to take something constructive from a difficult series.
''It will be interesting to see if the work of three to four weeks will bring something,'' Noves said.
Coetzee gave prop Ruan Dreyer a test debut on his home ground at Ellis Park, and was forced to make changes at scrumhalf and flank because of injuries, but otherwise named his strongest lineup.
For the Springboks, a victory would confirm that they are on the road back, even if they are still, in Coetzee's words, some way from their intended destination.
And there's also a chance of a small slice of history on Saturday for Coetzee's team. Almost unbelievably, France has beaten South Africa in every one of their four tests at Ellis Park, the ground that's otherwise been a bastion for the Boks.
Being the first South Africa team to beat France at Ellis would be a milestone on the comeback trail, however small, for Coetzee and his Springboks.
''We're going to try and win all the little battles,'' Coetzee said.
