The truth probably lies somewhere in between, especially given the number of new faces in Saturday’s squad, and a more accurate barometer of their ability will come against South Korea in six days’ time.

After the game, head coach Lewis Evans said the performance, rather than the result, had been the most important thing, but acknowledged there were occasions when “against Korea we might be tested a bit more”.

Certainly in defence and attack Hong Kong will be made to work harder than they did, and it is unlikely the Koreans will hand the initiative back so regularly, or their backs kick as poorly out of hand as Malaysia’s.

To single out captain Fairuz Ab Rahman would be harsh, but the fly-half’s determination to stick with an approach that regularly sent the ball straight to try scorers Luke van der Smit or Charles Higson-Smith, with acres of space, certainly raised eyebrows.

Hong Kong’s performance under minimal pressure was largely error-free, a couple of dropped balls and misplaced passes aside. The only obstacle was having to spend almost 30 minutes down to 14 men.

Against a better side, Paul Altier’s indiscretions in either half – a yellow card for deliberate knock-on, and a straight red for foolishly flying into a ruck shoulder-first – could have been more costly.

As it was, the full-back’s absence barely registered. His side were already 24 unanswered points to the good when he took a rest the first time, and had added another 14, while conceding six, by the time he returned.

Having a ready-made replacement in Nathan De Thierry helped, and it seems likely that Evans will just need to decide who to slot into the centres, where De Thierry started his day.

Picking a pack will be a far harder proposition, and Evans admitted he faces “a lot of headaches with selection”.

While Sebastian Brien’s five tries dominated the headlines, the performance of his Sevens teammate Callum McCullough in the second row, and that of Sam Tsoi at flanker, created some difficult choices.

Then there was the ever-excellent Patrick Jenkinson. The vice-captain’s dominant display at lock brought a smile from Evans, who knows a thing or two about playing in the forwards.

With Josh Hrstich, who has been recovering from a calf injury, also expected to be available, Evans will have plenty of forward power to call on against opposition who should “provide more of a challenge at the set-piece, particularly the scrum”.

While Hong Kong have one eye on the future, there is also the immediate challenge of retaining their ARC trophy.

“Obviously the Asia Rugby Championship is an important one – we’ve won it the last few years, we want to keep winning it, and we want to go to the next level,” Tom Hill, the Hong Kong captain, said.

“The repechage was disappointing, but the only thing you can do is get back on the horse and go for it again, so really pleased with how we all went, and really looking forward to next week.”