It wasn’t, alas, 2016 all over again, this time New Zealand taking the honours at Soldier Field after, as Gerry Thornley puts it in his match report, Ireland “ran out of punching power and energy” in that final quarter.

Ireland face New Zealand in what looks set to be another epic battle between the sides in Chicago. The action gets under way at 8.10pm, with the game being shown live on both Virgin Media 1 and TNT Sports 2.

IRELAND and New Zealand will square off in a mouth-watering rematch of their 2016 Chicago epic. Coming nine years after the Boys in Green famously beat the All Blacks stateside, Andy Farrell will