Team GB's women came to Rio with medal aspirations but return home having finished fourth in the sevens at the 2016 Olympics. It wasn't for a lack of heart but at key moments their discipline was found wanting as they fell in the bronze medal match to Canada.
For so long it looked like Team GB were going to be genuine contenders to make the final. They breezed through their group with three wins from three -- including a 22-0 triumph over Canada -- then made light work of Fiji in the quarterfinals only to run into the Portia Woodman-inspired New Zealand.
Reduced to five players at half-time with Katy McLean shown yellow for pulling back the Woodman as she attempted to sprint clear and Amy Wilson Hardy then sin-binned, perhaps harshly, for catching Ruby Tui in the air it just gave them too much to do. In the end the Woodman-inspired Black Ferns' cutting edge proved too much as they closed out a 25-7 triumph.
Then Canada shut them out 33-10 in the bronze medal match - captain Emily Scarratt was sin-binned for a knock on - to leave the squad devastated.
It wasn't in the script. With a host of World Cup-winners in their ranks, they would have fancied their chances of taking away gold -- that was certainly the pre-Games message from coach Simon Middleton. But in the end they'll be left pondering those horrible 'what ifs'.
"We couldn't really live with the pace, and we hurt ourselves with a few of the things that we did," Middleton said. "There are a lot of young players in there, and hopefully we will get another shot at the Olympics next time around, and we will be better for it."
Looking back over the three days there are plenty of positives to take from their performances: Scarratt was imperious under the high ball, Jo Watmore, their player of the Games, played brilliantly in getting her six tries while the experience from the tournament will put them in good stead heading forward.
But will come as no immediate consolation.
"I just feel empty," Team GB's Heather Fisher said. "We weren't the best team. We set out for gold, lost to New Zealand and then had to focus on bronze and left ourselves too much to do at half-time. "You don't go on the pitch to lose, you go on the pitch to give your absolute all to win. You hope that when you turn up you will do what you have worked for your whole life. New Zealand were the better team in the first game but we didn't show up against Canada."
Despite their disappointment at how they fared in Rio, there are reasons for real optimism for the women's sport in Britain. The Rugby Football Union will be awarding 48 contracts with 16 full-time for the 2016-17 season with a focus on 15s with England heading to next summer's World Cup as defending champions. At grassroots level, the number of women playing the game is rising year-on-year with over 18,000 currently playing the sport with a programme launched in 2014 to take the game to 100,000 new players.
Wales showed signs of improvement in the previous Six Nations, had Jasmine Joyce in the GB squad and now have the hugely experienced Rowland Phillips in charge of the national 15s side. And Scottish Rugby are hoping to double the number of women and girls playing the game in their part of the world by 2020.
It's all positive for the women's sport. Those who made the long trip to the Deodoro Stadium or watched it from afar would've seen GB play with heart, make gainline-breaking runs and create stunning tries but in the end, it was not enough for a medal.