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Oita - Fiji bowed out of the Rugby World Cup leaving a blueprint for putting Six Nations champions Wales under pressure and highlighting the need for more Tests against the Tier 1 nations.
The free-running Pacific islanders are always popular crowd-pleasers with their audacious off-loads and while they failed to make the final eight in Japan they were not far off despite limited preparation.
They pushed Wales all the way, leading 10-0 after eight minutes and were 17-14 up with 20 minutes remaining before a late 15-point surge saw the Tier 1 side come out on top 29-17.
With limited preparation compared to the top-ranking sides, Fiji coach John McKee conjured up a "constant attack" game plan that would have future Wales opponents taking note.
"We knew we wouldn't win an arm wrestle or a penalty shootout with them, so we had to back ourselves to score tries. You saw we didn't take penalty shots, we took scrums or kicked to the corner," McKee said.
The first of their three tries came from a backline move after taking a scrum instead of a penalty close to the Wales line.
And they won a penalty try in the second half when Wales collapsed a lineout drive after Fiji kicked for the corner rather than take an easy shot at goal.
"We chanced our arm a little bit and backed our attacking play, to see if we could put them under pressure to see how they reacted," McKee said.
"For large parts of the game, that worked very well for us."
Just as they dominated Wales for much of the game, the free-spirited Fijians started the tournament racing to a 21-12 lead against Australia before wilting to lose 39-21.
Between Australia and Wales, they suffered an upset loss to Uruguay and beat Georgia.
"What's pleasing to me is we had an opportunity on the world stage to show what this team's capable of," said the New Zealand-born coach.
The 29-17 scoreline against Wales was little different to the 23-13 result the last time the two teams met at the 2015 World Cup.
But in the intervening four years, Wales played 48 Tests of which 41 were against fellow Tier 1 sides.
Fiji, a Tier 2 team, played 27 Tests which included only 10 against Tier one nations and their hastily cobbled together outfit still managed wins against France, Scotland and Italy.
"Coming to the World Cup, it's a big factor when you don't play so many Tier 1 Test matches, the uplift in intensity is difficult to go with," McKee said.
"Every World Cup, the competition gets higher and higher. In 2015 we thought we did OK and with a lot of work we could do better and we haven't. We're sort of in the same position."
"If we play more Tier 1 Test matches that will be great. But at the same time, I understand that it's very complicated to organise the whole international calendar."
McKee's frustration echoed that of Georgia coach Milton Haig who said his side's 43-14 loss to Wales in their opening game was a perfect example of why they need to play Tier 1 opposition regularly.
"You can't play a team like Wales at the World Cup and produce miracles if you are not used to playing at this speed," Haig said.
"Georgia needs at least four matches a year against Tier 1 teams and until that happens, these are the results you will get."
