IRELAND ARE SET to return to Chicago for a 2025 Test match against the All Blacks, according to reports in New Zealand today.
Andy Farrell’s side are in line to take on New Zealand at Soldier Field, where Joe Schmidt’s Ireland made history with a first-ever win over the All Blacks in 2016.
The Post reports the game will likely take place in October/early November 2025, before New Zealand travel to Europe for their end-of-year Tests.
It is also reported that Boston and New York were also considered as potential destinations for the fixture.
The success of the 2016 trip to Chicago has ensured the IRFU have remained keen on returning to the USA.
Ireland went back to Soldier Field in November 2018, with Schmidt’s team recording a comfortable 54-7 win against Italy.
Andy Farrell’s Ireland were then due to play the USA in Las Vegas in 2021, but ongoing Covid restrictions saw the planned October Test at the 65-0000 capacity Allegiant Stadium cancelled. The IRFU stated their desire to reschedule for 2022, but a new fixture never transpired.
The 2016 Chicago game marked the start of an intense Ireland-New Zealand rivalry.
Later that month, the All Blacks won a bruising encounter in Dublin, before Ireland claimed a first-ever win over New Zealand on home soil in 2018.
New Zealand had their revenge with a comprehensive 46-14 defeat of Schmidt’s men in the quarter-finals of the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
Ireland then edged the All Blacks at Aviva Stadium in the 2021 Autumn internationals, before an historic first Series win in New Zealand in the summer of 2022. At last year’s World Cup in France, New Zealand ended Ireland’s Webb Ellis ambitions with a thrilling 28-24 quarter-final success.
New Zealand will be back in Dublin later this year for a November Test at Aviva Stadium, before Ireland host Argentina, Fiji and Australia.
