For Steve Borthwick it was horrible history repeating itself as England melted in a crucible of humiliation.
As captain he had felt the pain of his England team crashing 42-6 to South Africa in what was then a record home defeat.
As head coach 15 years on the shock was no less intense as the side he picked and prepared took England’s heaviest beating in 152 years of Test rugby.
“As player or coach it hurts the same,” said the Cumbrian after a thrashing so complete France counterpart Fabien Galthie offered up his sympathy.
“Against the number two side in the world we knew we would find out where we are. We have come a long way short - a long, long way from where we want to be.
“The way we were in the contact area wasn't good enough, on both sides of the ball. This is a huge lesson.”
There are similarities with 2008 in so far as that was also the dawn of a new era, under Martin Johnson, and England lacked a power game to compete.
On Saturday the point was hammered home by a French performance of such majesty it is easy to imagine Antoine Dupont lifting the World Cup in Paris on October 28.
“Men against boys,” said former England star Matt Dawson. Paul Grayson repeated the words, then Lawrence Dallaglio. Three World Cup winners who know where the summit is and the light years England are from it 180 days out from the tournament.
They were killed on the gain line, bullied at the breakdown, embarrassed by not only the inaccuracy of their kicking from hand, neither long nor contestable, but basic handling skills.
The halfbacks offered no control, then again the ball supplied to them by the forwards was so poor it made them sitting ducks for Jonathan Danty and France’s marauding back five.
“Nowhere near good enough,” hooker Jamie George said. “We didn’t turn up against the second-best team in the world. There need to be some conversations about how we move on from this. I'm so disappointed with what we put out there.”
From Day One it was obvious Borthwick had an unenviable job on his hands clearing up after Eddie Jones.
His supporters will point to the Leicester side he turned into English champions last season not being able to buy a win to start with - handed a Premiership record 54-7 defeat by Wasps.
Borthwick’s problem with England is the timeframe for this repair job. France was their final competitive home game before the World Cup.
All that’s left now is a daunting trip to world number one ranked Ireland on Saturday, then four pre-World Cup summer runarounds.
“When you come into a team that’s had a difficult time and you're trying to bring it together and find a way of playing that works there'll be some tough days,” said Borthwick. "This was an incredibly tough day."
From the moment France scored from deep, 106 seconds in, the contest was over. That two-try man of the match Thibaud Flament used to play fly-half for an English university fifth team only salted the wounds.
As Dupont, Danty, Cyril Baille, Charles Ollivon and Greg Alldritt sprinkled stardust, England's big names vanished.
"You saw how well France have used these years to get to this point in time," said Borthwick. “That team is putting finishing touches to their game.
"That’s not where we are. We have a lot of work to do."
ENGLAND - Try: Steward. Con: Smith. Pen: Smith.
FRANCE - Tries: Ramos, Flament 2, Ollivon 2, Penaud 2. Cons: Ramos 6. Pens: Ramos 2.
PLAYER RATINGS FOR ENGLAND AND FRANCE
ENGLAND
Freddie Steward: Eclipsed by Ramos though had small consolation of going through him for his try. 4
Max Malins: Almost scored try and never stopped trying but France absorbed all he threw at them. 6
Henry Slade: Little impact again and replaced by Owen Farrell early in second half. 4
Ollie Lawrence: Always going to have his work cut out up against Danty. Good lesson for youngster. 5
Anthony Watson: One run, one dropped ball, spent rest of game fire fighting. 4
Marcus Smith: Nothing came off for him and harder he tried the more that went wrong. Chastening. 4
Jack Van Poortvliet: Badly exposed by France before Mitchell came on and injected pace and tempo. 3
Ellis Genge (capt): Horror start to his career as England captain, though English set-piece held up pretty well. 6
Jamie George: Never hides, but even Jamie will struggle to find words for this. 5
Kyle Sinckler: Was so looking forward to this contest after Wales and will be hugely deflated. 5
Maro Itoje: 12 tackles but unable to turn tide through force of personality as he once could. 5
Ollie Chessum: First really tough day for an outstanding young prospect. Must keep chin up. 6
Lewis Ludlam: No answer to work of Cros, Ollivon and Aldritt at breakdown on day to forget. 5
Jack Willis: So wanted to impress against his Toulouse team mates but France bossed breakdown. 5
Alex Dombrandt: Too many costly errors in first half when England needed yet had no control. 4
Replacements: Jack Walker (Lawrence 62) 5, Mako Vunipola (Genge 65) 5, Dan Cole (Sinckler 65) 5, David Ribbans (Dombrandt 76) 5, Ben Curry (Willis 54) 5, Alex Mitchell (Van Poortvliet 46) 6, Owen Farrell (Slade 46) 6, Henry Arundell (Malins 58) 5.
FRANCE
Thomas Ramos: Criminally underrated player who for 80 minutes showed world how good he is. 9
Damian Penaud: Two late tries confirmed his class and rubbed salt into deep England wounds. 8
Gael Fickou: Conducted French back line quite beautifully and without fuss from beginning to end. 8
Jonathan Danty: Showed how much France had missed him in first 3 rounds on both sides of ball. Excellent. 9
Ethan Dumortier: Missed out on scoring spree for once as France did most damage down right side. 7
Romain Ntamack: Assured display in playmaking role while opposite number Smith sank without trace. 8
Antoine Dupont (capt): - Schooled Van Poortvliet, kicked off both feet, found gaps, linked play. All superbly. 9
Cyril Baille: Great hands in loose, willing runner, power personified in tight. 8
Julien Marchand: France did most damage in loose but he continues to impress. 7
Dorian Aldegheri: Packed down against Genge and had his work cut out but had last laugh. 7
Thibaud Flament: Once a fly-half for Loughborough Uni 5ths, yesterday took England apart with two tries. 9
Paul Willemse: France won 12 of 14 lineouts and he provided plenty of power in engine room. 7
Francois Cros: Topped French tackle count with 13, not that they had much defending to do. 8
Charles Ollivon: Scored France’s third and fifth tries, oozing class from start to finish. 9
Greg Alldritt: Capped a world class display with assist for Ollivon try which killed contest. 9
Replacements: Sipili Falatea (Aldegheri 51) 6, Filimo Taofifenua (Willemse 51) 6, Sekou Macalou (Ollivon 65) 7, Yoram Moefana (Danty 65) 6, Melvyn Jaminet (Ntamack 73 7.
