The most alarming element of Munster's elimination from the Investec Champions Cup is that it’s happened in the tournament's bloated era.
As accustomed as the province have become to playing Champions Cup rugby beyond the Six Nations, this will be the fifth time since 2010/11 that their major European campaign came unstuck in January.
This one feels different to the others.
When they last got knocked out at the pool stage in 2019/20, it was as much down to bad luck as anything, lumped in a pool of death with Racing 92, Saracens and Ospreys, they produced a reasonable 16 points, and were a scuffed JJ Hanrahan drop-goal away from beating Racing, which would likely have got them through.
In those days, second place in your pool didn’t even guarantee a quarter-final spot. The five pool winners, and three of the runners-up advanced, with only eight of 20 getting knockout rugby. It was dog-eat-dog stuff.
Under the current format, with 16 of the 24 teams advancing to the next round, it feels harder to miss out on qualification for the knockouts than it is to secure it.
"It doesn't sit well with me at all," head coach Clayton McMillan (below) admitted, after his side's 31-29 defeat to Castres on Saturday, their third loss from four in Pool 2.
It was the French side's first win in nine attempts at Thomond Park. The Limerick venue is far from the fortress it once was, with the province winning just nine of their last 15 Champions Cup games at the ground.
"I'm well aware of the expectation of the club and where our aspiration lies," he continued.
"We've had good moments and not so good moments and this was one of those ones we have to accept and live through and learn from and get better."
While the New Zealander cited a number of different areas where their game folded on Saturday, the head coach said he was "massively disappointed" at how their discipline once again proved costly, as they shipped 14 points while Tom Farrell was in the sin-bin, following on from similar concessions against Bath and Toulon when Tadhg Beirne had been yellow-carded.
At various stages it looked like the province had made their way safely through a scare.
They came from 10-0 down to lead 12-10, only to give up an incredibly soft try before half time to fall behind again. Similarly, they looked ready to kick on against a tired French side when tries for Thaakir Abrahams and Edwin Edogbo (below) sent them 22-17 in front, before throwing that lead away again.
"I think the first bit is just as a team, staying on and present in every moment," McMillan added.
"I think a good example of switching off is when they did a quick throw-in when we'd squeezed them into a lineout inside their 22.
"We switch off for a second, they throw it in, end up down the other end of the field and it's those little moments that we need to eradicate out of our game.
"That's just individual ownership around staying on in every moment."
While they have been dumped from the Champions Cup, they have slipped through the trap door to the Challenge Cup, a competition they have only previously been involved in once, back in 2010/11.
And they will hope to salvage their season and follow the lead of Bath, who lifted the Cup last May after their own Champions Cup pool stage elimination.
"If we are lucky enough to get into the Challenge Cup, it's another opportunity at silverware. That's what we'll be striving towards," Beirne (below) said.
"That dressing room, you could certainly feel it in there. It's important we have to dust ourselves off.
"We'll have to look at this. We don't want to be in this situation ever again. If we make the Champions Cup next year, we'll definitely refer to this when we're in our group stage next year.
"For now, our focus will move on to the Dragons and the URC. That's our opportunity right now towards silverware."
While they will have eyes on silverware through the Challenge Cup, that will go on the back-burner until April.
With the province now deep in the trenches of a four-game losing run, getting the train back on the tracks in the United Rugby Championship is the top priority, starting with this Friday’s visit of a frisky Dragons side to Cork.
"Look, it's a bit of a cliche, but when you're winning it becomes a bit of a habit and when you lose it can also become a bit of a habit," McMillan added.
"What we know is that we've played some quality teams over the last four or five weeks and while we haven't played our best rugby, we haven't been that far away in most of those games either.
"So it's certainly not 'throw everything out the kitchen window and start again’. We've got a lot of confidence in the people in the room.
"We just have to learn the lessons and learn them fast because the same ones keep hurting us."
