The England players will remember the feeling. Look back on the images of that night in Yokohama and see the empty eyes, despair writ large on wounded faces as South Africa celebrated beyond them. The Springboks had not just secured World Cup victory but romped to it, an England side coursing with optimism after a stunning semi-final performance against New Zealand left lifeless and limp.
To some extent, it is a low from which England have never recovered. The last four years have exposed deep flaws both within the national team and the game more widely, with talks of an even more radical domestic overhaul. The 23 Englishmen involved then were the youngest collective to reach a World Cup final: the promise and potential of that group has been frittered away, Eddie Jones indulged past the point of no return and then sacked with less than a year until this tournament.
