Wallabies coach Les Kiss has paid tribute to the Springboks and "deep thinker" Rassie Erasmus, saying it was privilege to take the early steps of his rugby coaching career in South Africa.
The Queenslander will coach against South Africa for the first time as Wallabies boss, Sunday night's Test in Perth easily the toughest examination of his six-game tenure thus far.
Kiss, who played professional rugby league in Australia with North Sydney Bears and represented both Queensland and Australia, swapped codes after a brief coaching stint in the 13-player game following his retirement as a player.
And his first job in rugby came in South Africa in 2001 as defence coach under Harry Viljoen, before he later cycled through Super 12 franchises the Bulls, Stormers and Cats as a consultant.
And while his time in the Rainbow Nation was relatively brief across two seasons, Kiss said its impact helped set him on the path to becoming head coach of his own country, a dream that was fulfilled when he took over from Joe Schmidt in August this year.
"I learnt rugby through the eyes of Springboks, that's just the plain truth of it all," Kiss said when asked to recall his first foray into rugby in South Africa.
"I loved the Wallabies, I watched it, I saw the way we played, the skillful nature of our game; how we would use the ball on the back of [John] Eales and co, taking that forward pack forward.
"So I knew the game, I understood the tenets of the game and how it worked, but when you're on the ground and you learn the game through the eyes of the Springboks, it was a powerful way to learn first up.
"I often say it was a gift, I think, to learn rugby through their eyes, but the next step was [just] as important to come back into the Australian rugby landscape when I joined the Waratahs.
"So it has informed me from the first day right through to now."
When Kiss returned to Australia in 2003 to take on a role with the country's under 21-team, little did he know the journey it would take to come back and take charge of the Wallabies 23 years later.
There was a six-year stint with the Waratahs that included the 2005 and 2008 Super Rugby finals, while he also served as an Australia A assistant coach, before a move to Ireland where he would eventually work alongside Schmidt at Test level and later take on the director of rugby role at Ulster.
A move to English club London Irish, who were booted from the Premiership in 2020 amid crippling financial issues, would ultimately prove fruitful, as it allowed him to return to Queensland to take charge of the Reds -- a position that would be the final stepping stone to becoming Wallabies coach.
But it was his time in Ireland that really steeled Kiss' rugby acumen and saw him work alongside Erasmus once more, this time as a coach, as the now two-time World Cup-winner began his own coaching journey.
"Rassie was part of that group [2001 Springboks], he was probably the back end of his career, probably his last season playing," Kiss revealed.
"It doesn't surprise me what he's done, even that short period of time, six months that I had there coaching him. He was a different thinker and a deep thinker, and a little bit out of the convention the way that they [South Africa] looked at it -- he was outside of that convention, and I'm not surprised where he is now.
"We're good mates, we worked together in the Irish rugby system as well and he's done unbelievably well. So he'll have a few things up his sleeve [on Sunday night], that's for sure, I'm looking forward to it."
Blessed with personnel depth Kiss can only dream of, Erasmus has made a whopping 13 changes to the Springboks starting side for the Optus Stadium clash with the Wallabies.
After a gruelling four-Test series with the All Blacks, which South Africa won 3-1, it is no surprise Erasmus has taken the chance to test the outer reaches of his squad, but then also include the vast experience of some of the players who have helped him lift the Webb Ellis Trophy, twice, on the bench.
Kiss revealed he had already made the call to select a 6-2 bench split before seeing the Springboks team on Tuesday night, and backed a bench featuring Taniela Tupou, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto and Tom Hooper to fight fire with fire.
"There is quite a strong awareness of who we're playing, no doubt," Kiss said of the stacked Springboks bench. "But we have challenged ourselves to say 'what can we do better every day and work on those things?
"And one of those things when we selected this team on Monday even before the Springbok team was announced, the [Wallabies] Test team was announced Monday morning internally, we talked about the capacity of our bench to be powerful, strong in many ways.
"And when you look at that [Wallabies] 16-23 right through there's some really dangerous players and big, powerful players, and I've got no doubt they'll be up for it. And when you look at their squad, what a juicy last 20-30 minutes it's going to be."