Even accounting for the quality of the opposition, Johnny Sexton's edge doesn't appear to have become blunt over the course of his six-month layoff.
Coming into the Rugby World Cup, the big question hanging over Ireland would be how their retiring captain would get back up to speed having been sidelined since March.
The 38-year-old overtook John Hayes as Ireland's oldest ever men's international in the 82-8 win against Romania in Bordeaux, and his points total of 24 - which included two tries - showed he's still at the top of his game even as he nears the end of his career.
Most impressively, it was the veteran out-half that maintained the pace in the Irish attack when the brutal 35C heat was sapping the energy of others.
It was his delayed pass that played in Bundee Aki to set up Ireland's opening try, while his quick thinking for a tap-penalty led to Romania giving up a yellow card in the opening half. His opening try arrived as he sprinted off the shoulder of Jamison Gibson-Park, while his second saw him charge determinedly back against the grain to score.
All in all, it was an impressive 65 minutes on his return.
"Obviously delighted to be back," he said after the game.
"I didn't expect conditions to be like that, it was incredibly hot in the warm-up in particular.
"I'm delighted to get through some minutes, we got through some good stuff, but there's lots to improve on, both individually and as a team, and we know the challenge next week is going to be up a couple of levels.
"We're very, very happy with five points, and a good points difference as well, which could matter at the end of the pool."
While it was an overall positive performance, Ireland looked scattered after the first-half water break on 20 minutes and were sluggish for a time, while Sexton was also frustrated right from the start when his grubber kick for Earls was picked off by Romanian out-half Hinckley Vaovasa to set up their shock early try.
"There was a few times I felt we could have kept the ball in hand for sure. Yeah, we'll have to have a look back.
"The guys work incredibly hard, the back three boys, in terms of their kicking. I thought they kicked a couple of great ones. I thought we had close to a 50-22 in the second half and then it's something we have to be incredibly good at for the rest of the tournament."
As well as becoming Ireland's oldest international, Sexton's 24-point haul brought his all-time Irish tally to 1074, nine points back from Ronan O'Gara's record.
It means that record is well within touching distance next week against Tonga when Ireland continue their Pool B campaign in Nantes.
But Sexton says he's not thinking about records, given the banana skin that lies ahead.
"So, I definitely needed a game for sure to test it out. I'm happy with some stuff, and not so happy with other things.
"Like every game, I don't think you ever play a game where you're 100% happy. We'll go and review the game as individuals and as a team, we'll enjoy tonight and enjoy watching the other games, spend time with each other, and get back to work on Monday.
"Hopefully I'm the better for it and I can improve my performance for Tonga. Like I said, it’s going to be a much more difficult game, they’re obviously a different calibre of player.
"No disrespect to Romania, I thought they fronted up brilliantly and they were very physical but you see the team that Tonga have and we know their threat, they’ve had this weekend off and they’ll be just prepped for our game, they’ll have had two or three weeks to focus on our game, they’ve said that publicly.
"It’s going to be a huge challenge for us and we’re going to have to be ready, it’s a World Cup, it's week on week and we’ve got to be ready every week," he added.
