The Waratahs set their clash with the Lions as a yardstick for how far they had come this season -- and how strong they looked heading into their four clashes with New Zealand sides -- but they fell well short of the mark.
Held scoreless for the first time ever in Super Rugby, and falling to the Lions for the first time in Sydney, the Waratahs were sluggish and well off the pace before they were put to the sword and downed four-tries-to-none, 29-0 in front of a boisterous crowd.
Looking impressive in the opening 20 minutes, the Tahs had plenty of opportunities to put points on the board. Dominating possession, they found themselves within metres of the line multiple times, but as has plagued them since their opening game, they continued to fail to execute and finish from attacking positions.
"I think we're creating enough in terms of making line breaks, but what we're not doing well is really finishing those and providing the real killer punch," Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson said. "We've shown in games, if we don't do that and we turn the ball over a lot that can be telling on us."
Holding just 24 percent of the possession in the second half, the Tahs were made to rue their lost opportunities according to Waratahs captain Michael Hooper, especially after the Lions crossed within moments of gaining possession in the final minutes of the first half.
"Not being able to capitalise and them [Lions] just being able to build that pressure on us," Hooper said of the Waratahs' poor execution in the first half. "But in saying that, at half time there was full confidence that we could have won that game, that's where our heads were at and the scoreboard is ugly, unfortunately, but I think a few tweaks there will be good for us."
Sitting at the top of the Australian conference and with four straight wins under their belt, the Tahs were ready to measure themselves against the best of the South African conference, but after such a poor performance Gibson acknowledged they had a lot of learnings to take away from the game.
"We're going to take a lot away from this game," Gibson said. "In terms of the learning, extracting that. Is it a true reflection of where our sides at, I'm not sure. I think one thing we will do, will be to have a real good close look at how we come away from this game with those learnings. I think if we integrate them into how we play and come against teams who are going to do this more often to us with a strong set piece, how we combat that."
In a history-making night, the Lions opened the scoring through Manosh Tambwe before they all but put the game away after the opening 10 minutes of the second half. But Hooper wouldn't go as far as to say the Lions were the best team they'd faced in 2018.
"They're a different team," Hooper said of the Lions. "What they were able to do was stick to their game and their plan A, which we spoke about during the week, and it wore us down and we probably went away from ours [game plan] -- particularly when they got their second try; we just didn't stick to the game plan. It allowed them to stay in our area and stay to the things that they're good at."
With a bye week before they face the Blues at Brookvale in two weeks, Hooper said the side would do a lot of "soul searching" before they returned to training at the end of the week.
"We'll be right, this week will be good for us. The next couple of days, and today ... will be a bit of soul-searching but we'll make the pact to move on, really draw from the stuff we did well and draw on all the little improvements we can make -- or the substantial improvements we can make -- to move forward.
"We are in a good position, we've got guys who are super keen to get better and who are enjoying the process. We'll move on, that's what we've got to do; tonight's over."
Waratahs winger Taqele Naiyaravoro, a player they've begun to look to open up the game and penetrate the line was well contained by the Lions and struggled to make any dents in the defence, making just one offload, zero tackle busts and zero line breaks. It was something that clearly concerned coach Daryl Gibson.
"It's obviously, from a coaching perspective, is how we use him best," Gibson said. "I think tonight we tried to use him in close quarters and he was less effective than he has been in the last few games. I think for us we go back to the drawing board, look at how we can provide that space for him, where he's far more dangerous."
Waratahs fans were given some welcome relief following the game with Gibson confirming Israel Folau was a strong chance of making his return from a hamstring injury against the Blues in two weeks. Folau's replacement Alex Newsome struggled to make any dents, while he also bombed several scoring opportunities in the opening half.
"He [Folau] was close tonight, but we've got some big games coming up; we're half way [in the season]. He's a definite chance for the Blues game."