Evolving Ireland team are going places again under wily Joe Schmidt

A special win, on a magical day, in a brilliant city. For those of us privileged to be in Chicago last weekend, it proved the ultimate in sporting experiences. It had everything.

For obvious reasons, the architecturally stunning city was already gripped in a baseball frenzy with the Chicago Cubs landing the World Series on Wednesday night, just as the Irish began to flood into the city from far and wide.

From early Friday the main thoroughfare down Michigan Avenue leading up to Millennium Park was thronged with millions of Cubs fans ranging from toddlers in their colourful club baby-grows to couples in their 80s who had waited all their lives to witness a day like this.