There was a time not so long ago when a trip to Italy was a welcome fixture for Wales during a Six Nations campaign. A chance to stretch the legs, let the handbrake off and bump up the points tally as they recovered from, or prepared for, bigger battles elsewhere.
This time around, however, it's the Italians who are favourites, with Warren Gatland's side heading to Rome looking for redemption having been humiliated in Cardiff a year ago before enduring a truly horrendous start to their Six Nations campaign, their worst since 2007.
It is hard to imagine how this year's championship could have gone worse for Wales, with all of the chaos and uncertainty off the field mirrored by the performances on it. An opening day disaster at home to Ireland was followed by a hammering at Murrayfield before they were overrun and outmuscled by England at the Principality Stadium.
But the unfortunate truth is that Gatland, his players and the fans all know that things can indeed get worse from here, with a first Six Nations whitewash in 20 years now a very real possibility and the Rugby World Cup in France just six months away.
While restoring pride will undoubtedly be on the players' minds after the last-gasp 21-22 defeat to Italy 12 months ago, there is so much more on the line for Wales when they run out at the Stadio Olimpico this weekend as they look to avoid an unwanted record and take the first step on what will be a very long road to recovery.
Obviously, just getting a win has become the top priority, with Gatland admitting after the England loss that his side are locked in a battle with this weekend's rivals to avoid the dreaded last place finish. "The last thing you want to do is get the Wooden Spoon," said the coach. "That’s got to be our focus from that".
Win in Rome and Wales will hopefully spare themselves from that unfortunate accolade for another year. But if they lose, finishing bottom of the pile looks inevitable, with only reigning champions France left to play in Paris on the final weekend.
If they do fall to another demoralising defeat in Italy and fail to defy the odds against Les Bleus, it will be the first time they have lost all their Six Nations games since 2003, the one and only time they have finished bottom of the championship table.
It's not just their standings in the tournament at stake, either, with a loss to Italy also set to consign Gatland's side to their worst ever position in the world rankings. Wales dropped to their joint-lowest ever ranking of 10th after the England defeat, but things will get even worse depending on how the game pans out in Rome.
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A defeat, no matter the scoreline, would see Wales drop to an all-time low of 11th. To put their current and projected standing into perspective, they have only fallen as low as 10th on two occasions, the first coming after their woeful 2007 Rugby World Cup exit at the hands of Fiji and the second following a dismal autumn international campaign in 2012 and a loss to Ireland in the opening game of the 2013 Six Nations, which they ultimately recovered from to win.
But in case that wasn't enough to worry about, if Wales were to lose by more than 15 points against the Azzurri, they would drop to a shambolic 13th place, below the likes of Samoa and Georgia. All this less than four years after they topped the global rankings for the first time, something which now seems an impossible feat.
A win wouldn't exactly propel them back up towards those lofty heights but would move them back to ninth place, a crumb of comfort when you consider the catastrophic alternative.
And then, of course, there is the money, the importance of which is greater than ever given the events of the past few weeks and months. A championship whitewash will not only cause red faces all round, but there will be financial consequences if such a disaster was to occur.
The WRU is set to miss out on a Six Nations prize money windfall if Wales finish bottom having already kissed goodbye to the millions awarded to those in the top spots. The winners of the tournament earn £6 million, with the runner-up banking just over half of that sum and those in third securing £2.5 million.
With Wales now realistically looking at either finishing fifth or last, the difference between these spots is significant. While the team finishing fifth walks away with £1.5 million, the bottom ranked side is rewarded with £1 million, half of the sum given to those in fourth.
It may not seem like much of a difference on paper, but in the context of the financial crisis that Welsh rugby finds itself in, and with player wages and regional budgets set to be slashed dramatically next season, that half a million pounds is huge. After all, any revenue the WRU makes at Test level goes into the central pot, and anything left over after money spent on overheads and the £11.5m which is ringfenced for community clubs is spent on the professional game.
With so much on the line, the importance of Saturday's game in Rome cannot be overstated. Win and Wales will keep their heads above water - for now. Lose, however, and the sinking ship will plunge to scary new depths.
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