Whatever about anyone else, delegates at the Sinn Féin ardfheis will not have been surprised by events at Lansdowne Road, writes Frank McNally.
"Building an Ireland of Equals" was the keynote at the party's RDS conference, and the big rugby match nearby only underlined how much work still needs to be done.
From the pre-match ceremony, where the English invaded Irish territory and refused to move, the game confirmed everything republicans have long believed.
It was what happened after the kick-off that really hurt, however. The home team had started the day level on points with the visitors, but the English trampled all over the equality agenda, and by the end the Irish were second-class citizens. And in our own country, too.
The only consolation was the major fillip the match provided to the local economy. In particular, the clubs who offloaded their ticket allocations to the English at hugely-inflated prices were vindicated by yesterday's result. With Lansdowne's capacity falling far short of corporate needs, England's difficulty was Ireland's opportunity, at least for some.
Most tickets had changed hands well before the game and touts were scarcer than normal near the ground. One Dublin journalist resorted to extreme measures, standing outside Jurys with the message "ticket needed" sellotaped across his forehead. But most of those without the precious cardboard headed for the overcrowded pubs, or to the RDS, where the match was relayed on giant screens.
Here, while Sinn Féin was debating equality in an adjoining hall, English fans joined lustily in the pre-match singing of God Save the Queen. But the two events were separated by strong walls. And parity of esteem was well observed between the opposing fans watching the screens, apart from the obligatory home boos for the appearance of England's Dublin-born substitute scrum-half, Kyran Bracken.
When England pulled away in the middle of the second half, the visitors struck up Swing Low, Sweet Chariot/Comin' for to carry me home. The request was taken up enthusiastically by the jarveys on St Stephen's Green, who were swinging low up and down Baggot Street for the rest of the evening, milking the visitors for any money they had left.
Sinn Féin made an apparent concession to the game in moving its key debate on policing forward to yesterday morning. As rugby fans and republicans crossed the Dodder in opposite directions afterwards, they could both reflect on a day when - as usual - only our rivers ran free.