With his team 244 away from even achieving parity, any decent score in this situation was worth at least twice if not more than the hundred he made against the hapless West Indies at his beloved Headingley earlier this summer.
The visitors also admirably buried the ghosts of Twickenham 2005 and Marseille 2007, gaining parity up front and even winning a scrum penalty in the second half.
Adjusted for variations in purchasing power parity, the ascent of emerging markets is even more impressive: the International Monetary Fund forecasts that the total GDP of emerging markets could overtake that of the developed economies in 2014.
But even with the objections of billionaire owners, an expanded Champions League would be a step towards the parity and Financial Fair Play initiative that Platini himself has advocated.