Harlequins' descent from penthouse to basement is finally complete. Rarely has a rugby ground fallen so eerily quiet at the end of a game; as with City traders witnessing a stock market crash, collective disbelief turned to glazed resignation and, as the reality struck, an overwhelming feeling of emptiness.
There will be those, not least in Bristol and Rotherham, who argue that the pain of relegation is just as intense wherever it is felt. For Quins, though, the financial implications are scarier than most: the club will survive, but tomorrow between 30-40 employees can expect bad news. "Don't anyone think this is not a major blow from a playing and financial point of view, because it is," acknowledged Mark Evans, Quins' chief executive and head coach.
Official confirmation that Quins will indeed be playing National One rugby against the likes of Sedgley Park and Doncaster next season bore out his warning; the bar-room whispers maintaining there was a plot to extend the league next season and thereby preserve Premiership rugby in the capital can now be silenced.
Like it or not, Quins are down and must plan accordingly while their rivals prepare to cherry-pick the likes of the England squad wing Ugo Monye.
Much debate, inevitably, will centre on Evans' own future. He insisted he would not be "railroaded" into hasty decisions and claimed not to feel under threat, giving the distinct impression he had no desire to walk away from a club who, by his own estimation, will lose £4m-£5m in revenue as a result of Saturday's one-point defeat.
But though the title sponsor NEC is reportedly intending to stay on, it seems inconceivable that Evans will remain as both chief executive and coach of the first team even if Grenoble's Dean Richards does not decide to swap the French Alps for the mountainous task of reviving Quins. The club's intention, meanwhile, is to retain the bulk of the playing squad, although the assistant coach Paul Turner is heading for Newport Gwent Dragons. "We're not going to have a mass exodus; it's not going to be a Bristol-type scenario," said Evans.
Nick Easter, Simon Keogh and Tony Diprose, among others, could scarcely have done more to keep Quins up and, until Mark Cueto's spectacular individual try after 72 minutes, it seemed the hangman's noose might just be dodged. Had Quins played as well all season as they did in the first quarter, when they took a 12-0 lead through tries by Jeremy Staunton and James Hayter, they might be contemplating European rugby next season.
Sadly for their supporters, the enduring memories will be Cueto's irresistible surge and the narrowly missed penalty by Staunton a minute from the end of normal time which sealed the club's fate.
"The league table says we're the worst team in the Premiership but people in the game realise the margins between 12th and sixth are tiny," Evans stressed.
The fact remains that Quins lost their first eight games of the season and did not win a match except on international weekends when opponents were depleted. Too often they were desperately poor and, on those occasions when they did chisel out a lead, they were unable to make their advantage pay. Even the Quins stalwart Jason Leonard has criticised their recruiting efforts last summer; the failure to replace such outstanding professionals as Paul Burke and Pat Sanderson was fatal.
It has also left Quins, vehement critics of relegation, praying their own preference for a closed shop does not come to pass inside the next 12 months. Expect to hear rather less about the folly of auto matic promotion and relegation next April if they are top of National One and Bristol are bottom.
That is not to say Evans' views have changed on the financial damage wrought by the current system. "You sit there this time next season and tell me Bristol have bounced back. Getting promoted from National One is not bouncing back unless you finish halfway up the Premiership. Rotherham bounced back and that ended up well, didn't it?"
Among those, ironically, who felt a pang of regret despite his own side's qualification for the championship play-offs and Europe was Sale's director of rugby Philippe Saint-André. "I think it is very sad for rugby. In France we know Harlequins more than all the other teams in England. It's a big club with a lot of history. If they keep their side they'll go back up straight away. After that, maybe you could have 14 teams in the Premiership."
Saint-André also believes his loosehead prop Andrew Sheridan is destined to be a Lions Test starter and is baffled why Cueto is not going.
It will take a long time for Quins to come to terms with their exclusion from the Premiership elite; Saturday's defeat was akin to pulling the wings off an exotic butterfly. By the end, even the vultures were averting their eyes.
Harlequins: Duffy (Williams, 72); Harder, Greenwood, Deane, Keogh (James, 80); Staunton, So'oialo; Worsley (Jones, 51), Hayter, Dawson, Winters, Miall (Evans, 51), Easter (Sherriff, 75), Vos (capt), Diprose.
Tries: Staunton, Hayter, Duffy. Cons: Staunton 2. Pen: Staunton.
Sale: Cueto; Ripol, Robinson (capt), Todd, Hanley; Hodgson, Redpath; Sheridan, Bruno (Titterrell, 45), Stewart (Turner, 51), Fernández Lobbe (Jones, 45), Schofield, White, Carter, Chabal (Lund, 62).
Tries: Hanley, Cueto. Cons: Hodgson 2. Pens: Hodgson 3.
Referee: D Pearson (Northumberland).
Attendance: 8,500.
