When the last firework exploded in the Paris night sky England found themselves in the dark fumbling for answers.
It was a familiar position for rugby’s richest rugby nation - another defeat, another disastrous Six Nations.
Rugby Football Union chiefs quickly launched their latest review into what had not gone right and Eddie Jones even admitted he had not done a good enough job.
But when it came to the nitty gritty of what on earth is happening with an attack branded “clunky” by Ben Youngs and “embarrassing” by World Cup winner Kyran Bracken, Jones doubled down.
“The improvement in our attack has been very good,” England’s head coach said. “The only thing we have not been able to do is to finish.”
His team had just lost more games than it won for a third Six Nations campaign in five years.
It had scored fewer tries than any opponent other than Italy and gone an entire championship at home without making a scoring pass.
Yet Jones’ verdict was that he has “never” been as excited about the prospects of this team.
“There is about probably a three per cent gap between where we are and where we need to be,” he said. “Much more positive for England than 12 months ago.”
True, last year was even more forgettable, with England finishing fifth of six and losing to every Home Union in one campaign for the first time since 1976.
But that is such a low bar that they can’t seriously find positives in trailing in 15 points behind France, 11 back of Ireland.
The response of RFU chiefs to England’s worst ever Six Nations showing a year ago was to launch a “transparent” inquiry which revealed nothing and certainly did not clip the coach’s wings.
So Jones is unlikely to lose either sleep or his job this time around.
“I think the progress is very positive,” he said as England headed for the exit while France raised a glass to a team making genuine progress week on week.
“We’d all like to be winning tournaments and be at the top of the table, but we’re not quite good enough to do that now. Within the next 12 to 14 months we will be.”
So we’re back here again, excusing today by promising tomorrow will make it all worthwhile.
Saying England will be better with experience under their belts is okay if you have a coherent selection strategy.
Not if you drop a youngster like Jamie Blamire, as they did last week, after one mistake.
England battled courageously against the odds on Saturday. Of course they did, they are decent players.
The problem is the team is less than the sum of its parts and that is a coaching issue.
The closer we get to the World Cup the further they actually seem to go from achieving their end goal.
We are assured it's not muddled thinking yet backs and locks are routinely picked out of position and the team lacks fluency. Where is the progress?
Last November England beat world champions South Africa with back line daring and tactical smarts.
Four months on they are reduced to kicking to the wings and having prop Ellis Genge lump it up the middle.
He did a pretty good job of it by the way but that’s not really the point. England lost for the sixth time in 10 championship matches. That is.
FRANCE - Tries: Fickou, Cros, Dupont. Cons: Jaminet 2. Pens: Jaminet 2.
ENGLAND - Try: Steward. Con: Smith. Pens: Smith 2.
