France's XV records, on Friday evening, a benchmark win over South Africa (21-19) in the Nations Championship. The French control a breathless match right to the end.
The victory is prestigious. It already ranks among the most striking performances by the French XV in recent years, built in fervor and pain.
A year out from the World Cup, the stakes go beyond the evening's score alone. The French may have just opened part of the way.
The word comes up with almost every player who faced the press: benchmark. Listening to them, the win is earned first through the mindset of a group written off as losers all week, but which forces its own destiny.
The defense faces the first full-scale test of Geoffrey Doumayrou, the new specialist coach. Under the spotlight, it withstands one South African assault too many.
The second half is far from perfect, in the view of everyone involved in the match. Memory will no doubt retain above all this effort, as the French concede tries and yet hold the score.
The win is not born of that resistance alone. In the first act, the French deploy their game, trouble the Springboks with their weapons and add surgical precision and clinical realism.
They control neither possession (45%) nor territory (42%). They do, however, make more tackles, 175 to 142, and miss fewer tackles, 21 to 32.
At the helm, Antoine Dupont remains the conductor of the big occasions, whatever the number on his back. He puts his stamp on the performance.
The precision of the action almost escapes the eye, according to this teammate. Creating and defending: the evening's dual demand also runs through the fly-half of the key moments, present to the end.
The French send the Springboks home and keep the advantage, which, Dupont acknowledges, was not easy. Friday evening leaves a benchmark, less through possession of the ball than through the ability to give nothing away.