The real drubbing handed out on the 2005 Lions tour came after the third Test ended.
Sir Clive Woodward, in charge of a side thoroughly stuffed in all three Tests against the All Blacks, took one hell of beating from New Zealand coach Graham Henry, a stuffing every bit as bad as his side took on the pitch.
Former Wales boss Henry, heavily criticised when he led the Lions to a 2-1 defeat in Australia four years ago, took the opportunity to twist the knife as his successor squirmed.
"It's pleasing to win 3-0, I think it was 2-1 in Australia. The 2001 tour was a very good series, there was some great rugby played. Both teams scored seven tries each. I don't know what the try count was for this series, I've lost count."
Sir Clive, of course, won the World Cup. But his reputation will never be quite the same after this awful finale.
Henry will have enjoyed every minute of Sir Clive's agony in New Zealand, after all those years of English dominance over Wales in the Six Nations.
Sir Clive walks away from rugby (headed for Southampton and an equally daunting verbal confrontation with no-nonsense football coach Harry Redknapp) insisting: "It's actually been a successful tour despite what's been written and said."
He's right, but only on one front, the one he had no impact on.
The fans were magnificent. Upwards of 14,000 British and Irish tourists turned up to support the red shirts and returned with red faces. Few will be proud to say "I was there" after three Tests which saw the All Blacks win at
a canter.
On all other fronts, this was the tour to hell.
Alastair Campbell's spin doctoring has been widely ridiculed, the arrival of Prince William appeared to motivate only the All Blacks and the arrival of Charlotte Church didn't even motivate Gavin Henson.
The best-prepared team in history turned up for the first Test at Christchurch with seven players who had played only one game on tour and too many Englishmen burned out after the 2003 World Cup success.
Sir Clive said on his return to Heathrow on Monday: "In terms of all the players, the management and coaching side it has been wonderful. But New Zealand is a tough place to go, the better team won. Everyone enjoyed it but the Test matches were very tough.
"The Lions is almost a romantic team rather than a built-up team. New Zealand are a very, very good team and it is difficult to bring together four sides very, very quickly.
"It makes it clear a fully professional team will always beat 15 individuals when you only have that amount of preparation time.
"But when you get the chance you should always go and do it. The upsides outweigh the downsides.
"I still think the Lions is a great concept. The supporters over there were just fantastic, they have all had a great trip and hopefully they will do again in South Africa in four years' time."
But no matter how hard he spins this particular tour, the dominant memory will be of a man on a manic mission who fell at rugby's final hurdle.
He tried too hard, spent too much time on the detail, too little time on the thorny subject of actually beating the All Blacks.
Come 2007, if Henry's All Blacks do the traditional thing and fail to win the next World Cup, I reckon we may just see Sir Clive on the box, enjoying that particular failure.
No matter how much we belittle the 46-year-old for his arrogance, his self-belief, the fact is, Sir Clive provided England with one of THE greatest moments in modern sport in November 2003.
Let that be his legacy. Not some bitter words from a New Zealander lucky enough to run in to a bit of form at the right time.
