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Such has been the severity of the short, sharp shock treatment Warren Gatland has performed on Wales since his appointment 15 months ago that no team selection will ever again be thought of as premature, harsh or surprising.
Not even when it comes five days earlier than planned; not even when it contains 10 changes; not even when it sees the dropping of a captain widely described as inspirational.
Still, there might have been a raised eyebrow or two in Italy, particularly as their last three home matches against the red-shirts have netted them two of their six Six Nations victories to date.
Gatland was at pains to stress that he was being anything but disrespectful to the might of the Azzurri they will face in Rome a week tomorrow, although from where Nick Mallett is sitting this could just be seen as the "Mambo Italiano" of all put-downs.
Granted, with a halfback partnership of the quality of Dwayne Peel and James Hook being reunited and indeed, with Gatland at last getting the chance to see his dream centre partnership of Gavin Henson and Jamie Roberts take the field (late Henson niggle notwithstanding), there is still plenty to like about his XV.
But Gatland did confess that if it had been any other team than Italy, he would have resisted throwing the deck into the air.
"To be honest, we wouldn't have made this many changes against any of the other Six Nations countries," he said.
"But we have come a long way in the last 12 months and achieved a fantastic amount and the best teams in the world develop depth of experience in their squad and back themselves. The choice of Alun-Wyn Jones as captain is an example of us doing exactly that. He is a possible Wales captain of the future."
For his part Alun-Wyn Jones, 23, spoke of "filling big boots" in replacing his namesake, Ryan, although at 1.98m and over 120kg the lock has all the equipment.
"He is well respected by the players and he will lead from the front," said Gatland, who pointed to the fine job he has done since taking charge of the lineout calls at the start of this championship.
"I spoke to Ryan yesterday and said I planned to make a number of changes. I told him he would be on the bench, and he had no problem with it."
Not that Jones snr would have made a huge fuss if he did have any qualms about being demoted for the first time under Gatland. The Kiwi has an uncompromising style, to put it ultra-mildly, as the Grand Slammers were reminded when reconvening on Thursday after their first Six Nations defeat in almost two years.
"We had a really hard, honest review session and the players did take a lot on board," Gatland said. "There were some bruised egos, particularly as the players said that physically their win against England was tougher than the loss against France. That was disappointing. I don't think we were as much on edge in Paris."
Expect that edge to return in the Eternal City, especially as the early team announcement gives Gatland and his staff the chance to sharpen the squad to within a millimetre of their lives.
Wales need to record as many points as possible to redress the for-and-against column in the Six Nations table and so set up a winner-takes-the-championship showdown against Ireland in the final match.
As coaches always do, Gatland emphasised that his side's primary objective against Italy "will be to win the game first", although he did confess that "there may be the chance to look at the scoreboard and open up with 20 minutes remaining".
With a bench boasting almost 300 caps between them and including the likes of Ryan Jones, Michael Phillips, Stephen Jones and Tom Shanklin, he will certainly have the ammunition at his disposal.
- INDEPENDENT
