Marcus Smith played himself into contention to start the first Test against South Africa after a debut for the British and Irish Lions that delighted Warren Gatland.
Coach Gatland also expressed satisfaction at seeing Alun Wyn Jones back in action during Saturday's 49-3 win over the Stormers, three weeks after the captain dislocated his shoulder against Japan.
There will be "robust debate" over the coming days, Gatland predicted, as he and his coaching team consider their options for the July 24 series opener against the Springboks.
"With Marcus Smith, the longer the game went on, the better he looked and more comfortable out there," Gatland said.
Smith was a late addition to the tourists' squad, summoned from England duty after winning his first caps for Eddie Jones' side, but the Harlequins fly-half brought youthful zest to the Lions in Cape Town.
His kicking was reliable too, Smith nailing the extras for each of the Lions' seven tries.
As for whether the 22-year-old should start against South Africa, Gatland said: "Those are conversations we haven't had. I thought he looked good out there, some lovely touches. He kicked for goal well and I thought he defended well.
"For a guy who's only had one training session I thought it was pretty good. He'll be part of the discussions, no doubt about that.
"A lot of people put their hand up tonight and there were some pleasing performances on Wednesday too."
Wednesday's game saw the Lions beaten 17-13 by a strong South Africa A team, and Gatland made wholesale changes for the Stormers clash, allowing him to have a good look at all his options.
The return of Jones, who arrived in South Africa only on Thursday, means he assumes the tour captaincy again. That responsibility was initially transferred to Conor Murray when it appeared Jones had no chance of being involved.
Murray was more than happy to hand over the leadership duty, Gatland said, with one caveat.
"Conor, he's the first to admit he was more than comfortable for Alun Wyn to come back," Gatland said. "He wasn't prepared to give up his bedroom suite though, because I think he got the captain's bedroom suite."
Jones had almost half an hour as a second-half replacement against the Stormers, and Gatland said Test rugby's most-capped player would benefit from getting back to action.
"I thought he put a few shots on and defended well, had a couple of touches," Gatland said in his post-game news conference.
"The big thing for him was to get through that period and then to see how he was afterwards.
"We'll have that discussion about whether there's a role for him, either as a starter or a bench player or not involved next week.
"If he is not involved, we'll look at who potentially leads the team."
'Job not done' for Springboks after All Blacks triumph, says Kolisi
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi warned his team the job is far from done despite them rallying for a thrilling victory over New Zealand in the Rugby Championship on Saturday.
The Springboks secured a 31-27 win over the All Blacks at Ellis Park, coming from behind with two late tries from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Grant Williams.
The victory hauled South Africa onto 14 points in the Championship standings as they bid to end New Zealand's four-year stranglehold on the title, but Kolisi says there is still work to be done.
Addressing the capacity crowd in his post-match interview, Kolisi said: "We play for a lot but you people are our number one motivation.
"We appreciate you every single day. Please don't stop. When times are tough, please keep supporting us. We cannot do it without you.
"We respect the All Blacks. No matter what people say about them, when they need to turn up, they turn up. We believed in ourselves, we didn't panic, and we did what we wanted.
"They were catching us on the exit. After the first try in the second half, we picked it up. I'm really proud of the boys but the job is not done."
All Blacks captain Scott Barrett, meanwhile, was proud of his team-mates' efforts but admitted they had just fallen short of putting together a complete performance.
"Well done to the Springboks, it showed the class team they are," he said. "We weren't quite good enough. We were good for 62 minutes and it's an 80-minute game.
"There were two key moments after kick-offs where we couldn't quite get out of our half and they punished us. It was a huge effort, we're certainly proud, but it was just not quite to be.
"We'll regroup pretty quickly. Some guys have played here for the first time. It's intense and we'll have to be better next week."
South Africa host New Zealand again in Cape Town next week, while Australia go to Argentina for their round-three matchup.
Schmidt flummoxed by 'bizarre' Test as Australia downed by South Africa
Joe Schmidt said he cannot recall ever being involved in a more "bizarre" Test as his Australia side were downed 30-12 by South Africa in the Rugby Championship.
Malcolm Marx touched down twice for the Springboks in rainy Perth to make it two from two in the tournament but the Wallabies were hit by a swathe of injuries.
Front-row pair Allan Alaalatoa and Angus Bell were unable to return for the second half and scrums went uncontested after replacement prop James Slipper failed a head injury assessment.
The Wallabies even went down to 14 briefly when hooker Josh Nasser went off injured, though they did return to a full 15.
Reflecting on the unfortunate series of events, head coach Schmidt told Stan Sport: "It's probably one of the most bizarre games I've ever been involved in.
"In over 100 Test matches that I've been involved in I've never had a situation like that before. It happened so early in the game as well. When Slips got a head knock right after half-time.
"And then we were straight down. And then we played with 14 for a period of time before the officials worked out that we were still entitled to have a full pack because of the HIA.
"But I still am proud of the way that the guys fought their way through that second half. And the way that they stayed in the fight in the first half. It could have been, and I know it could have been as easy to say, but it could have been 12-11 at half-time and that would have been a massive lift for the boys."
Australia are winless through their first two matches, both against the Springboks, and will next face Argentina in La Plata on August 31.
Australia 12-30 South Africa: Springboks' late charge downs Wallabies
Malcolm Marx scored two tries in the second half to lead South Africa to a 30-12 victory over Australia in rainy Perth.
After a tight first half, the Springboks asserted their dominance to make it two wins from two in the Rugby Championship ahead of their meeting with New Zealand next week.
Noah Lolesio's penalty gave Australia the early lead, but they could not hold onto it for long as Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu equalised moments before Aphelele Fassi latched onto a long kick to touch down the first try.
Lolesio slotted in two more kicks only to miss another on the stroke of half-time that would have given the Wallabies the lead.
They were punished for it after the break as Marco van Staden and Malcolm Marx twice touched down to maintain South Africa's perfect start.
Though it was a marked improvement for the Wallabies from their opening-day performance in Brisbane, Joe Schmidt still has work to do to get them ready for Argentina next weekend.
Data Debrief: Springboks extend Australian run
South Africa have now won each of their last three Test matches against the Wallabies in Australia. The last time they recorded a longer such winning run was a four-match span from July 1971 to July 1993.
Though Australia have suffered back-to-back defeats, they showed more of a fight. Last week, it took them 75 minutes to score, compared to just three this time around.
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