In Steve Tandy's opening address to his first Wales squad as head coach, he welcomed the new faces, and then finished by leaving the players with a question. "Campaign to campaign, we're going to grow. How are we going to become the nation we want to be?"
Over the next four weekends, Wales face Argentina, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. A win against the Pumas on Sunday, and they'll be two from two.
A defeat? And it'll be one victory in 20 matches for the men's national side.
Welsh rugby is used to teetering on a precipice but the hope is this team and the country's rugby has reached its nadir, and with Tandy at the helm, and committed investment behind the scenes from the WRU into the pathways and youth development, Wales could be getting slowly back on track.
But in recent times, being the head coach of the Wales men's national team produces a varied to-do list.
Tandy's reads: cope with the fallout from the WRU call to reduce regions from four to three, shield the team from outside noise, fill the gap left by the injured Taulupe Faletau, mould a new squad and build self-belief.
The last year has been grim -- Warren Gatland, the architect of Wales' finest moments this Millennium, left his post two matches into the 2025 Six Nations with a record of six wins from 26 games in his second spell.
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Matt Sherratt took interim charge and worked tirelessly, but they finished the championship with the wooden spoon and a record 68-14 defeat to England.
Sherratt oversaw their summer tour, and it started with a 24-19 loss to Japan in Kitakyushu, a result which saw Wales slip to 14th in the World Rugby rankings, their lowest ever placing.
But a week later, relief -- Wales beat Japan 31-22 in Kobe, to record their first win in 19 matches.
Tandy took some persuading to take the job, but on July 21 he was unveiled as Welsh rugby's latest saviour.
"It's well documented and it's been difficult but I was delighted they got the win in Japan because it felt like the run of losses was building pressure," ex-Wales and Lions centre Jamie Roberts told ESPN.
"For them to get the monkey off their back in Japan was a bit of a line in the sand. We can look to the future. And it's coincided with new coach, new season, new November series.
"We're two years out from Rugby World Cup. In Steve Tandy, we've got a guy who's lived and breathed it as a player, as a coach and he's travelled, he's honed his craft at club level, at test level. This guy has been defence coach for the British & Irish Lions in South Africa. He's so committed."
Tandy is joined by Danny Wilson and Sherratt. He's also called in retired Welsh players Rhys Patchell, Duncan Jones and Dan Lydiate for the Quilter Nations Series -- a lot of Test pedigree and Welsh DNA.
That also drew a line between Gatland's era and Tandy's time -- only Neil Jenkins remains from Gatland's team.
Tandy's first squad saw them recall Louis Rees-Zammit after his attempt to crack the NFL, and also Saracens prop Rhys Carre who fell short of the threshold required to pick overseas-based players, but received special dispensation to be recalled.
Yet despite the feeling of fresh air blowing through the team's base at the Vale, there's still residing trauma to heal.
Some players have only known losses for Wales, a defeat to Argentina could reopen old wounds.
"You always use the pain of the past to motivate," Roberts, who will be a pundit for TNT during these internationals, said.
"That's normal. A lot of the players have to harness the experiences of the past 12 months, 18 months, two years, and use it as motivation."
But while the team prepare for Sunday's match at their base near Cardiff, the outside noise reverberating through the country's rugby scene is still focused on the WRU's decision to cull one of the four regions by 2028.
As things stand, the region which will cease to exist is either the Scarlets or the Ospreys, unless the two merge.
Former Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones was unhappy at the timing of the announcement, but also the uncertainty the players have been subjected to.
"A lot more could have been done to help regions perform better and for players to perform better," Jones said on BBC Scrum V.
"It hasn't been fair on the players with the jeopardy hanging over their careers. We have not looked after those people and it hasn't been fair."
Tandy said at a recent news conference: "There are still tiny bits of uncertainty but the more we are collaborative the better and make sure we do not avoid those conversations.
"We know we can't run away from it as coaches. The boys have been unbelievable. They have responded well with the way they have addressed the situation coming into camp."
Roberts understands the players' concerns, he has been there. But as a non-exec director on the WRU Board, he's been fully involved in the reshaping of Welsh rugby.
He said: "It's been tough, but if we can't make big changes to the game of Wales now, when can we?
"We've been through a turbulent 12 to 24 months. We've been at the lowest ranking ever. The club sides have struggled. There's been a whole consultation process and I think it was so important that the WRU listened to every stakeholder, be it clubs, players, supporters, commercial partners, ex-players to name a few.
"Everyone within the ecosystem agreed that change was necessary.
"A whole host of information comes to the board, and as a collective, you have to make the best decision for Welsh rugby to move forward.
"It's a very tough decision to make. However, if you put all the information in front of any 10 people who have a huge amount of passion for the game in Wales, I sincerely believe they'd find their way to the same conclusion.
"That is to consolidate at the top of the game, to concentrate our talent into three professional teams, whilst investing heavily into our pathway of talent underneath it.
"We're making record investment in our academy system, which is what's needed. This is about producing quality as well as the quantity of top professional rugby players in Wales to help us compete and get our clubs and national side back dining at the top table."
Roberts said "history will judge" whether the decision was right or not, but adds: "We've got to be brave and we've made a decision that puts into motion the change our stakeholders desire and the necessary change we believe will help elite rugby in Wales flourish.
"The easy option would be to continue as normal and expect for it to come good. That just won't happen. It's been a brave decision. I firmly believe we've come to the right decision but it's tough. I'm super respectful of players and supporters as I've been there, but yeah, it's hard."
It has left players in the region angry and upset at the timing, sources have told ESPN, and it's all just another thing on Tandy and captain Jac Morgan's plate.
Morgan became a Test Lion over the summer and his contract is up in the summer. Saracens and R360 are suitors, but the Ospreys are hopeful both he and vice-captain Dewi Lake will re-commit to the region, despite the long-term uncertainty over the Ospreys' future.
"He's a wonderful player," Roberts said. "He is a great guy. I don't think the captaincy has ever been without its politics. There's always something going on in the background, isn't there?
"But I think there's a duty as the Welsh Rugby Union to try and minimise that as much as possible for our players to perform. Jac above all else is a great guy.
"He's a great bloke, he's a wonderful rugby player and he's a guy who I trust to be able to put the political side of game to the back of his mind and perform."
So, it's against that backdrop Wales take their first steps under Tandy.
A return of two wins would signal progress. If they carry the momentum generated by the wind of change into the Argentina match, they can win that.
They should beat Japan a week later. Then comes the All Blacks -- that's a dream scenario victory.
And lastly? Well, that'll be toughest of all. Their final match against the Boks will rob them of 12 of the 23 selected for the Pumas as it falls outside of the international window.
But a pair of wins over the next month will help Wales get back on to the path to be the nation they want to be.