As the Davis Cup quarter-final in Rouen took a farcical turn, Leon Smith admitted the "conveyor belt" of talent that helped France to victory shows no sign of being replicated in Britain.
The meaningful action concluded on Saturday after victory for Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut in the doubles added to singles wins for Lucas Pouille and Jeremy Chardy but the rules required the dead rubbers to be played.
The record books will show that Dan Evans defeated Benneteau 6-1 6-2 before a 6-4 6-4 win for Chardy over Kyle Edmund made the final score 4-1 to France.
What will not be recorded is that a contest that was never serious at one stage saw Evans taking on Benneteau, Nicolas Mahut and French captain Yannick Noah.
The International Tennis Federation only drew the line at the leader of Stirling University's Barmy Army joining Evans on court to even up the numbers and confirmed the antics were deemed acceptable.
Benneteau, a substitute for Pouille, is better known these days as a doubles player and at 113 in the world in singles is only the French number 13. Chardy, ranked 68 and a surprise pick for the tie, is the French number nine.
Such depth is something GB captain Smith can only dream of and this tie exposed the fact that resources below Andy Murray remain thin at the top level.
"The big difference in our nation compared to the big hitters is someone like France who have 19 in the top 200," said Smith.
"We've got four in the top 100 and then that's it. This is a great team but it would be nice to have players who are joining these guys on tour, sitting around 75, even 125, 150.
"It just means you've got more of a conveyor belt coming through. Do I think it's round the corner? Maybe with a couple of them but there's certainly not a conveyor belt.
"That's something that continually needs addressing. Is it down to performance teams, our club culture? You can keep going, it's an endless debate. But the bottom line is it would be nice to have more depth."
Below Murray, Evans, Edmund and Aljaz Bedene, the next highest ranked British man is Cameron Norrie, who has travelled to the last two ties as a hitting partner, at 237.
In the short term, and for this tie in particular, Smith must have wished he could have called on Bedene, who remains ineligible after his latest appeal was turned down in March.
The Slovenian-born world number 93 cannot play for Britain because he previously played three dead rubbers for his native country.
He is particularly handy on clay and on the day when Evans won his first match on the surface for three and a half years, Bedene was collecting a Challenger title in the south of France.
Arbitration was the latest blocked avenue for Bedene after two appeals were rejected by the ITF but the door was left ajar, with Charles Hollander QC expressing hope the governing body would one day change its mind.
Smith revealed the Lawn Tennis Association was willing to continue the battle, saying: "We accept the decision that was made and respect the fact we were given a chance to be heard again but it's not stopped there."
The Scot also backed changing the rules for dead rubbers, for example by allowing each team to name a young player who could step in if the tie ended early.
The exhibition nature of the Evans-Benneteau contest certainly kept the fans entertained, with the stands at the Kindarena remarkably full considering there was nothing at stake.
For Evans it was another chance to learn his trade on clay, a surface he had studiously avoided since 2014, albeit against an opponent who appeared to have enjoyed France's celebrations a little too much.
With his ranking earning him a place in the biggest tournaments, Evans knows avoiding clay no longer makes sense, but he goes into the swing of Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and the French Open unsure of what to expect.
He said: "It's still a work in progress. I might not even win a match until the last week or I might win two the first week and then none the rest of the time. I just have to keep being positive on it.
"One day's good, one day's bad. Against Chardy (a 6-2 6-3 6-3 loss on Friday) I hardly hit the ball because he was hitting it by me. It's different tennis, I have to learn how to play on it. It's hard. The main thing is to come out of it ready for the grass."
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