The historic moment of initiating Australia's remarkable Test rugby union win over South Africa proved bittersweet for Dylan Pietsch, left stranded in Johannesburg ahead of the next match nursing a broken jaw.
The Wallabies claimed a favourable 38-22 result on Saturday after being down 22-0 midway through the first half in what would become the national team's second greatest comeback across 126 years of competition.
The Australians got back into the contest when Pietsch, a proud Wiradjuri man, pounced on a measured James O'Connor pass following a Len Ikitau line-break to sprint up the left side and score inside the 27th minute for the visitors to head into half-time down by 17 points.
Pietsch touched down a back-to-back second career try after crossing two weeks earlier against the British and Irish Lions in now his seventh Test match for the Wallabies.
But the 27-year-old was unable to walk off the ground with his teammates at the interval after collapsing to the ground after a nasty collision while attempting to pull down inspirational World Cup-winning Springboks captain Siya Kolisi.
The one-time schoolboys' flanker uncharacteristically came off his wing in the 31st minute from a South African lineout throw, left hunched over in back play and in the hands of the trainers treating his jaw and damage to his teeth.
The incident has ensured Pietsch's Rugby Championship campaign is prematurely over after just Australia's first Test of the annual southern hemisphere tournament.
He will miss the second Springboks Test in Cape Town on Saturday and the remaining four Tests to follow against New Zealand and Argentina, including three fixtures back on home soil.
Replays showed Pietsch's jaw collided with Kolisi's shoulder blade.
New Zealand referee Ben O'Keefe was heard on the gameday's microphone just after the point of impact saying, "I'm going to check that tackle there" over the legalities of the number eight's suspected shoulder charge during the next stoppage of play.
But ultimately Kolisi was cleared of any wrongdoing and avoiding being placed on report.
The stiff jolt left Pietsch set in a hospital bed for a further three days after his jaw was wired shut and bandaged before he flies back into Perth on Wednesday.
Pietsch was staying positive and took to Instagram, showing an air of resilience despite the major setback to his fledgling Wallabies career which only got off the ground in 2023.
"The path isn't always clear, but clarity comes when you keep walking," he told his followers.
The post gained support from O'Connor and Ben Donaldson, who is also out of the Wallabies' squad with a leg strain.
Outside back Filipo Daugunu will replace Pietsch in the playing squad at Newlands Stadium to face a bitter Springboks lineup.
Australia coach Joe Schmidt had been left unsure of the final diagnosis from the side's medicos less than an hour after the injury.
"I would love to think it was just bruising," an optimistic Schmidt, who has also coached Pietsch for the final time before handing over the reigns to Les Kiss in October, said at the post-game press conference.
The triumph at Ellis Park – a venue which Australian teams have always struggled to adjust to the thin air from the altitude of 1,753 metres above sea-level – was the Wallabies' first-ever Test win in Johannesburg since 1963, a tour the second Aboriginal Test capped player, the late Lloyd McDermott, had boycotted over South African apartheid laws despite its government offer of 'honorary white' status.
