The Western Force may have gone down 54-7 to the British Lions at Optus Stadium on Saturday night, but captain Nic White said they had good fun rattling a few cages in defeat.
The Force were down 21-7 - three tries to one - at half-time, White having scored his side's only five-pointer, converted by Ben Donaldson.
But the visitors scored five unanswered five-pointers in the second-half with the Force playing catch-up as Lions coach Andy Farrell emptied his powerful bench.
White said the game had been a special occasion for rugby in WA.
"It lived up to it big time. The intensity was unreal. We came out firing," White said.
"We just weren't able to live with their intensity for the full 80, but gee whizz we threw everything at them for 50, and we really enjoyed going hard at it.
"It was just a bunch of blokes being out there, really enjoying being in front of 46,000 (a record crowd for the Force) challenging themselves against the best of the north and matching it with them
"It was good fun.
"What was pleasing was for 50 minutes we were able to live with it and rattle some cages.
"We probably should have come away with a few points that we left out there.
"In patches there was some really good D then they slipped through, and they showed their class.
"There will be some learnings, but we'll make sure we celebrate this."
Coach Simon Cron was happy with the first-half.
"A few things we had planned worked really well," he said.
"First half was relatively comfortable. Second-half a little bit disappointing.
"Their turnover and transition was very fast. We weren't able to transition into 'D' quick enough and they got down our edges.
"Couple of times we're hard on attack, 15-20 metres out from their line, and we turn it over.
"They've got so much speed and quality down the edges."
Cron said the last 20 minutes they overplayed, trying to play catch-up rugby.
"That's what probably leaked two or three tries at the end," he said.
"For us it was swing away and have a crack.
"I'm proud of them for having a go but we played catch-up there."
Cron revealed tighthead prop Ollie Hoskins, in his last professional game after returning home from playing in England, had played with a broken little toe.
A teammate stood on his foot in just his second day at training.
Cron also had to replace reserve hooker Nic Dolly whose knee locked up when he was getting into his car on the way to the game.
But despite being "nervy" in the build-up to the match Cron said the scrum, and particularly the front row of Hoskins,
Tom Robertson, and Brandon Paenga-Amosa was outstanding.
Both Cron and White said other Super Rugby clubs and the Wallabies would learn plenty about the Lions and particularly how they crept over the offside line at the set piece.
"Would have been nice if they had been onside, to get some reward from the scrum that was quite dominant would have been nice," White said.
"There was probably a perception that we weren't able to live with them and we didn't get reward for that."
Lions coach Andy Farrell said the game had been a great test for his side.
"It was a great start for us on the tour," he said.
"They didn't go for goal. They kept ball in play as much as they possibly could.
"They were physical, great intent and I thought they played a great brand of rugby.
"I wouldn't want to single anyone out. I thought there was a good, cohesive team performance from them.
"One of the pleasing things about our performance, we stayed in the fight and overcame that."
