Steve Hansen spoke the morning after his team's first test victory over the Lions about being sore just watching it, and he was probably only half joking.
He, along with the rest of his management group, would have been mentally and emotionally, if not physically, spent after the effort put in during the week to prepare their men for the battle ahead, and it was a battle.
In terms of importance, the test was easily the most significant at Eden Park since the 2011 World Cup, and the match itself, with the early injuries to Ryan Crotty and Ben Smith, and the brilliant try finished by Sean O'Brien which brought the Lions back to near even terms, would have put them through a different emotional wringer.
Spare a thought, then, for Warren Gatland and his various assistants. They went through the same emotions and mental strain - on top of their three weeks already on tour - and their team lost.
How hard it must be for Gatland and company to pick themselves up from such a crushing defeat, not only for the second test at Westpac Stadium on Saturday, but for tomorrow's final mid-week match of the tour against the Hurricanes, one which must feel all but irrelevant now.