At the conclusion of the Six Nations, when all the raw emotion has fizzled out, Warren Gatland will surely find a quiet hour or two at his family home in Hamilton, New Zealand, to ponder what more needs to be done to get his Wales team back on track.
This Six Nations has been a jarring experience for Gatland, a coach who is more accustomed to competing for silverware than propping up the table, with Wales a country mile off the level required to compete with the best sides in the world later this year.
In Gatland's defence, he only had a handful of training sessions to try to fix a side which had lost at home to both Italy and Georgia in the past 12 months, while he was also forced to assemble an almost brand new coaching team.
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What the New Zealander will be holding onto is the fact he will get two months of access to his players, along with three warm-up games, before the Rugby World Cup.
We take a close look at what Gatland will have learnt during this Six Nations and the questions which still need answering:
Young guns a work in progress and old guard still needed
Much has been made of the age profile of this Wales squad, with far too many players over the age of 30. Both Gatland and his predecessor Wayne Pivac have perhaps been guilty of holding onto some players for a little too long.
Gatland has tried his best to get the balance right between experience and fresh blood during the championship, but it has been tough going.
Take the centre partnership as a case in point, with both Joe Hawkins and Mason Grady having started against both England and Italy. Both are 20 years old with a mere seven caps between them. They both have the potential to make a real impact on the international stage but they are still learning their trade.
They have played well on the whole, and will be better for the experience, but there are areas which they need to brush up on, especially in defence.
It's the same story with young second-row Dafydd Jenkins and his Exeter Chiefs teammate Christ Tshiunza, who have shown promising signs but are still very rough around the edges.
One would hope they would be even further down the line of their development by September, but Gatland will have learnt he can't discount his veterans too quickly given the World Cup is just six months away.
There is an argument to say Wales should use the upcoming World Cup as a stepping stone for Australia in 2027 and give youth its chance but it's unlikely the Welsh Rugby Union, or Gatland for that matter, will see it that way.
The attack needs a lot of work
There is no point in sugar-coating this: Wales' attacking play is streets behind every other side in the Six Nations, including Italy.
Historically, Gatland's sides have relied heavily on a strong kicking game, winning the collisions and an almost impenetrable defensive system, but the game has moved on. Gatland and his attack coach Alex King need to devise a game-plan which gets the best out of what could be a potent Welsh back-division.
The likes of Ireland, France, and Scotland are masters at manipulating opposition defences with their skill levels and speed of thought, giving all three an attack which is difficult to contain.
During the Six Nations, Wales have tended to run out of ideas after a few phases, and it's difficult to see what they are trying to achieve.
To make in impact at the World Cup, Wales will need to ask more questions behind the scrum and ultimately score tries. This should be Wales' biggest work-on in their training camps leading up to their World Cup opener against Fiji in Bordeaux.
Will Rowlands and Cory Hill desperately needed
Wales have missed Will Rowlands terribly during the Six Nations, with the Racing 92-bound lock providing the perfect mix of physicality, dynamism and athleticism which has been missing.
Adam Beard is an experienced campaigner who played well against Italy, while Dafydd Jenkins and Christ Tshiunza have big futures.
Alun Wyn Jones is still around but Wales need a bit more from their front-five, and Gatland will be desperate to get Rowlands onto the field. He will also want to get Cory Hill back into the mix with the 31-year-old, who currently plies his trade for Yokohama Canon Eagles in Japan, another who could give them a steelier edge.
Hill was a key member of Gatland's squad in the lead-up to the 2019 Rugby World Cup, helping Wales win the Grand Slam that year and scoring a try against England.
But he hasn't played for his country since the 2021 Six Nations after abruptly leaving Cardiff for Japan after being involved in an unsavoury incident, along with two other men, which resulted in a woman's home getting damaged.
Gatland may well try to persuade Jake Ball, who also plays in Japan, to throw his hat back into the Wales mix, too.
The New Zealander knows Wales need to be a bit stronger up-front, and the additions of Rowlands, Hill, and potentially Ball would significantly strengthen them.
The back-row conundrum
Gatland has more questions than answers when it comes to selecting his first-choice back-row. Taulupe Faletau remains the first name on the team sheet at No 8, but who wears No. 6 and No. 7 is very much up for debate.
Wales' embarrassment of riches at openside flanker have been well-documented, but does Gatland go for the experience and all-round class of Justin Tipuric or the breakdown expertise of Tommy Reffell or Jac Morgan?
Gaining the upper hand at the breakdown is non-negotiable at Test level and finding the right back-row balance is crucial.
Who wears the No. 6 jersey is also of paramount importance. Christ Tshiunza has shown glimpses of how good he could be, with his lineout prowess and athleticism a big asset, but Gatland may want a little more physicality at blindside.
Historically, he has been a fan of a six who does all the hard graft without grabbing the headlines, and is able to lay the foundation for his openside to cause carnage at the breakdown.
Dan Lydiate executed this role to perfection for many years, and could come back into the equation given how well he played in South Africa last summer, while Ross Moriarty must surely be considered.
Gatland's strongest team
It remains extremely difficult to decipher what Gatland's strongest side would be should Wales be playing a World Cup quarter-final tomorrow, and everyone was fit.
For all his tinkering during the Six Nations, it is difficult to see a back-line which doesn't include Liam Williams and George North.
Gatland is a huge fan of Gareth Anscombe, and should he be fit there's a good chance he would plump for the Ospreys playmaker over Dan Biggar, while Rhys Webb has cemented himself as the first-choice scrum-half.
Up front, Rowlands is likely to walk straight back into the boilerhouse, while Gatland may go for the comforts of a more physical blindside like Lydiate.
Potential Wales team if World Cup quarter-final was tomorrow
Wales: 15. Liam Williams, 14. Josh Adams, 13. George North, 12. Joe Hawkins, 11. Louis Rees-Zammit, 10. Gareth Anscombe, 9. Rhys Webb, 1. Wyn Jones, 2. Ken Owens, 3. Tomas Francis, 4. Adam Beard, 5. Will Rowlands, 6. Dan Lydiate, 7. Jac Morgan, 8. Taulupe Faletau.
Replacements: 16. Dewi Lake, 17. Gareth Thomas, 18. Dillon Lewis, 19. Cory Hill, 20. Justin Tipuric, 21. Tomos Williams, 22. Dan Biggar, 23. Mason Grady.
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