Ireland will return to Soldier Field in Chicago, the scene of their first and only win over the All Blacks, to face Italy on 3 November.
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The game will be part of a triple-header at the same venue, supported by a women’s international between the USA and New Zealand’s world champion Black Ferns and a men’s game between the US Eagles and the Maori All Blacks. The women’s match will be played first, followed by Ireland v Italy and USA v Maori.
Rahm Emanuel, the former Obama White House chief of staff who is now mayor of Chicago, said in a statement announcing the game he expected “fans from around the world [to] be inspired by Chicago’s cultural attractions, remarkable restaurants and love of rugby”.
Ireland beat New Zealand 40-29 at the home of the NFL’s Chicago Bears in November 2016, in front of a capacity 62,000 crowd. The All Blacks beat the US Eagles there in November 2014, by 74-6 and in front of another sell-out. A USA defeat there against Australia a year later attracted only around 23,000 fans.
Irish Rugby Football Union director of commercial and marketing Padraig Power said Ireland were “delighted to be returning to Chicago”, where in 2016 they “experienced tremendous support and made history in a week that also witnessed the Cubs celebrating their own piece of history on the streets of Chicago”.
The Chicago Cubs won their first World Series title in 108 years in the same week Ireland beat New Zealand for the first time in 111 years of trying.
Ireland are the reigning Six Nations champions, having won a grand slam this season, and are ranked No2 in the world behind New Zealand. Italy finished the Six Nations winless for a third year in a row and are ranked 14th in the world, one place above the USA. In their last meeting, in Dublin in February, Ireland won 56-19.
Nonetheless, the press release announcing the November games in Chicago saluted the team coached by former Ireland full-back Conor O’Shea as having “gone from strength to strength in recent years, rapidly becoming one of the most dangerous teams in Europe”. Of six tier-one teams in Europe, Italy are a distant sixth.
The men’s US Eagles have played the Maori twice in recent years, losing 29-19 in Philadelphia in 2013 and 54-7 at Toyota Park in Chicago on the weekend of the Ireland-All Blacks game.