Tony Ward: All Blacks will have the bit between their teeth on Chicago return

Tony Ward: All Blacks will have the bit between their teeth on Chicago return – an Irish win would rank ahead of 2016

It is not beyond our powers to hit the ground running Stateside but logic dictates that it is advantage New Zealand this time around

Ireland facing the haka at Soldier Field in 2016. Photo: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

I wasn’t outside the GPO in 1916 but I was inside Soldier Field as Ireland, in a Test rugby context, finally came of age a century on.

It was without doubt one of the greatest occasions in our long and proud history and such a privilege to have been there in the flesh as the most sought-after scalp at international level was achieved with every shred of conviction appropriate to the occasion.