Munster fail to make a stir in Windy City

USA Rugby’s PR department are struggling to create a fuss in the build-up to tomorrow’s inaugural Setanta Sports Challenge Cup between their World Cup-bound national team and tourists Munster at Toyota Park (kick off 8:10pm Irish time).

In a city besotted by its NFL team, the Chicago Bears, currently in pre-season, and its two Major League baseball teams, rugby is struggling for recognition in the Windy City.

Rugby’s standing in the scheme of things this weekend in Chicago is a microcosm of the game’s place in the national psyche: no professional league, a national side comprising mainly of amateurs and a tag that has seen them described as both whipping boys and a sleeping giant. The US organisers in an attempt to crank up the publicity opened yesterday’s press conference at the Gage restaurant on Michigan Avenue to the public.