Little did the 51,000 people who filed out of the Aviva in early February 2020 know that the congregation may not be seated for another 21 months.
Most of the fans peeled away from the Dublin 4 venue in jovial form, buoyed by Ireland's second win on the bounce in the Six Nations.
CJ Stander was man of the match as Andy Farrell’s side beat Wales 24-14, helping to further erase some of the awful memories from a miserable 2019.
Almost three weeks later, with Ireland having just suffered another chastening defeat to England in London, the IRFU announced, due to rising coronavirus concerns, that the home match against Italy, scheduled for 7 March was off.
We entered a different world.
The Six Nations campaign was eventually concluded in October but without any spectators, while earlier this year, Ireland’s two home games, against France and England were played out in an empty, eerie Aviva.
Last year’s annual report showed the union suffered a deficit of €35.7million with increased expenditure and loss of gate receipts taking their toll.
It wasn’t just the union that was hit hard.
The stadium is located in an upmarket area of the city but local businesses depend of the heavy footfall that international rugby, soccer and an assortment of big concerts bring.
The Aviva hosted two games in the summer, against Japan and the USA, but those attendances were restricted with just 3,000 allowed for the first game and 6,000 for the second.
Now with crowd restrictions at outdoor events gone, the IRFU has opened the doors but has struggled to sell the concept.
While the match against New Zealand next Saturday is a sell-out, ticket prices for this afternoon's game appears to have put many off.
This time four years ago, for example, the Fiji fixture, considered the least attractive game sandwiched between South Africa and Argentina, sold out.
Following the Brave Blossom’s stunning win over Ireland in Shizuoka, and the return of many frontliners to the home side, one may have expected a few more souls to make the trip.
But that we are slowly on a road back to some sort of normality is a boost for the area.
Dublin City Council says it has issued 25 "from the hand" licences for those selling 'hats, scarves and banners’ around the ground, for the game, while, as of Wednesday, they had issued no food vending licences.
For the upcoming soccer international against Portugal, which is a sellout, they have issued 33 licences to trade and three for food vendors.
Prior to lockdown, for the Euro 2020 qualifier against Denmark in November 2019, there were 54 licences in total issued so things are gradually picking up, going by those figures.
"It was tough without the crowds," says Mick O’Reilly, manager of Ryan’s Beggars Bush.
"When we opened back up we were lucky to have such outdoor facilities.
"But now that the weather has gone a bit colder it’s hard to get the people back in so the return of the matches is a huge boost.
"It will be mostly outdoors because we have a big marquee at the back and a big outdoor area at the front. So once we are full inside and have everyone’s Covid cert checked it will be outside only.
"We will be employing extra staff, of course.
"All the staff will wear their masks, we have good ventilation and the doors will be open."
Another popular local business that expects to be much busier this year is Ferrari Takeaway on Thorncastle Street.
Owner Nunzio says he’ll be taking on more staff to cope with the early orders for authentic Italian battered sausages.
"It will be very good to have the crowds back," he says. "I hope it’s going to be like the old days.
"We had no matches, no concerts it was very bad. We felt it.
"Costs were going up. It was very hard to keep staff."
Inside the ground there’s the obvious boost to the team, who have had to get used to playing in the empty shell.
"Any time you play for Ireland is special but we've missed having the support," captain Johnny Sexton, who will his 100th Irish cap said.
"It's only when you have them back that you realise how much you've missed them.
"You kind of got used to it a little bit through the last 18 months but no, it's been brilliant having them back, the difference that it made with Leinster and now to come into a mostly full Aviva Stadium
"There's a lot of guys who haven't played in front of a crowd for Ireland, you've got to remember, so it will be a very special day for them."
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