Tommy Martin: Rugby still chasing the dollar but America is a hard place to change

Rugby has money but it stretches only so far. You see it whenever the sport tries to reach beyond its limits.

Ireland players after the Gallagher Cup match between Ireland and New Zealand at Soldier Field in Chicago, USA. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Back to Chicago for the Ireland v New Zealand game and, to my mind, the city hadn’t changed a bit in the 27 years since I’d been there, apart from one, sizeable thing – the Trump Tower, plonked right in the middle of downtown about a decade after I’d spent a J1 summer in the city.

The tower itself is fine, taking its place in the sweep of architectural wonders ranged along banks of the Chicago River. It’s just that it’s got ‘TRUMP’ emblazoned on it in bloody great, big, gaudy letters so that it feels like it is leering at you wherever you are in the downtown area.