When New Zealand and Australia returned home from the World Cup with tails thrust between their legs, hasty reassessments of the Heineken Cup were being made Down Under.
The Super 14 has long been regarded as the leading light of provincial rugby, but its failure to ready the All Blacks and Wallabies for pressure cooker quarter-finals was brutally exposed in France.
As the Antipodeans crumbled before the intensity of two white-knuckle contests, they seemed ill-prepared for the type of death-or-glory showdown that is commonplace in the Heineken Cup.
Embittered Kiwis may have furiously devised excuses to explain another World Cup disaster, but Wallaby coach John Connolly gave an honest appraisal of southern hemisphere shortcomings after stepping down.
The former Bath and Stade Francais boss admitted the Heineken Cup left players better equipped for knock-out rugby than the league system of the Super 14, which does not include relegation.
"Handling the pressure of a knockout tournament is something we don't have," he said.
"There is always tomorrow in the Super 14. There are enough games that if you have one bad game you can make up for it.
"There is no doubt the Heineken Cup is very tough. It brings a different style of rugby. It is not always a better style of rugby.
"It is a no-risk style whereas the southern hemisphere teams play a freer style."
Players from Wasps, Leicester, Toulouse and Stade Francais - who provide the bulk of the England and French line-ups - face regular exposure to ferociously tight encounters.
Maybe it should not have been so surprising therefore when the Six Nations heavyweights completed a sensational double over the southern hemisphere to set up their seismic semi-final.
Seven members of the England team that edged Australia 12-10 were supplied by Wasps and Leicester, who contested last season's Heineken Cup final.
The Twickenham showpiece was the first all-English final and Wasps emerged 25-9 victors, upsetting the heavy favourites who had been crowned Premiership champions a week earlier.
The likelihood of the rivals meeting again is slim thanks to a ludicrous seeding system based on nationality and not past results.
Two 'groups of death' populate the pool stages this season with champions Wasps drawn alongside Clermont Auvergne, Munster and Llanelli in an impossibly tough gathering of European big guns.
Leicester have it marginally easier, but making it past Edinburgh, Toulouse and Leinster into the quarter-finals will be a major achievement in itself.
Elsewhere the groups have the usual smattering of heavyweights alongside perennial whipping boys from Italy and handful of underpowered Welsh regions.
As ever Llanelli will lead the Welsh assault, buoyed by last season's charge to the semi-finals where they were overrun by Leicester.
All but two of the previous 12 Heineken Cup winners have been supplied by England or France, with Irish provinces Ulster and Munster breaking their hegemony in 1999 and 2006.
Munster once again represent Ireland's best chance of reaching the latter stages of a tournament in which they hold a very strong pedigree.
Restoring reputations battered by a disastrous World Cup will provide extra motivation for the trio of Irish sides, whose entire seasons are shaped around the Heineken Cup
Leinster will dazzle on occasion yet still lack the heavyweight pack needed to role over Europe's biggest teams, but Ulster could progress thanks to a kind group.
It is also hard to see Glasgow or Edinburgh making any impact either, with the latter the only Scottish team to reach the knockout stages in 2000.
Toulouse accounted for them that day and with many Scottish players leaving for English or French clubs once again, it should be another lean tournament north of the border.
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