Ronan Kelleher eyes redemption against All Blacks

]Ireland hooker Rónan Kelleher says the painful memories of last year’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final defeat to New Zealand will serve as extra motivation when the sides meet again in Chicago on 1 November.

Ireland entered the 2023 tournament ranked number one in the world and full of confidence after beating the All Blacks in three of the previous four encounters, including a historic series win in New Zealand in 2022.

But their campaign ended in heartbreak with a 28-24 loss in Paris, where Kelleher was denied a crucial late try by Jordie Barrett’s last-ditch tackle.

The Chicago Test offers Ireland another shot at the back-to-back world champions, who also defeated them 23-13 in Dublin last year.

"Yeah, I'd say realistically it probably will," Kelleher told RTÉ Sport.

"It was very disappointing for us.

"We had high hopes and expectations for ourselves as a team and we fell well short of them.

"It was bitterly disappointing to lose, especially in the manner we did.

"We've gone and played them since then, we lost last year but there's a few things we're looking to right out of the performances and really try and get one up on them this time."