Ireland's clash with New Zealand on Friday evening was underwhelming in several ways, with Andy Farrell's side falling to a disappointingly decisive defeat on home soil.
After much buildup, the game did not provide much in the way of excitement on the pitch, as a scrappy contest played out on the slippery Aviva Stadium pitch.
In the days after New Zealand's dismantling of Ireland, much of the reaction has focused on the flat atmosphere which the game played out in. For a Friday night game with such high stakes, the stadium was audibly quieter than expected, with fans watching on TV commenting on the issue on social media.
Even pundits and journalists have noted the deadness of the Aviva atmosphere in the fallout to Friday's clash, with pieces in major Irish publications and the likes of Shane Horgan referencing it on major podcasts.
This is not the first time the Aviva Stadium atmosphere has been criticised in rugby circles. Widespread derision over the flow of punters in and out to the bars, and the volume of the PA systems, date back at least two years. Even the Irish players have acknowledged the at-times flat buzz around the ground.
Scotland legend Jim Hamilton, however, identified an entirely different aspect of the buildup to Friday's game which he felt killed any pre-match hype around Lansdowne Road.
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Jim Hamilton says Ireland got New Zealand buildup "all wrong"
Speaking on the Rugby Pod, former Scotland lock Jim Hamilton said that he was shocked by how Ireland managed the pre-match buildup to their rematch with New Zealand on Friday.
Hamilton pinpointed the lengthy sequence which saw President Michael D Higgins greeting the two sets of players as particularly egregious, acknowledging that his comments were unlikely to go down well with Irish fans.
I thought the buildup for the game - apart from the promos we were throwing out and the Haka - was shocking.
The long wait of the President's walk on the pitch...so old-fashioned, so out of date.
I try and say that as respectfully as possible, maybe that's something we can talk about and we'll get not happy comments from whoever about it. But the whole buildup to the game from the Irish camp, I thought, was poor.
Whereas, from an All Blacks point of view, the fact that they had Rieko Ioane in the middle of the Haka and they actually built up a narrative, it actually means more than a one-off test match from an All Blacks perspective. Andy Farrell did the opposite.
Hamilton's co-hosts on the Rugby Pod agreed with his take on the All Blacks nailing the buildup by comparison.
The Scot was not done, however, as he raised an issue which gained much attention on Friday night - the apparent mishap while playing the New Zealand national anthem.
The PA system as well, in Dublin, wasn't working, so the interaction with Nic Berry was coming in halfway through the conversation.
The All Blacks anthem wasn't done properly.
The buildup in Dublin, being on a Friday night and the start of these games, could have been so much bigger, so much better. I think there's a lot of work to do with what was the world #1 team in the world, Ireland...I think they got it all wrong.
The buildup to Ireland v New Zealand in the Aviva appears to have solidified many people's longstanding belief that the atmosphere for test games in the Aviva needs serious improvement. What can be done to achieve that, however, is a different question altogether.
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