fortunate to have only gone into the half-time break down 24-7.

CHICAGO -- The All Blacks are flying under the radar in Chicago with the city focused on Tuesday nights Game 6 in the World Series but they are enjoying escaping from the spotlight as they prepare for Saturdays match against Ireland.The city is awash with Cubs jerseys and caps as the city keeps just about everything crossed that their team delivers against the Indians in Cleveland. With the Bears winning on Monday night, the Blackhawks in action on Wednesday and the Bulls facing the Knicks on Friday, the All Blacks are far from being the dominant show in town. It is a rarity.But like 2014, they are quite enjoying it and their relative anonymity -- despite a huge cheer when they were shown on the screen at the Bulls on Sunday -- means they are focusing on growing a familiarity between each other with four uncapped players in the squad.It is refreshing, All Blacks openside Sam Cane said. Because weve got here a couple of days early, its allowed the boys to get out and experience the other sports too. Once weve got past that stage and weve kicked off our week it allows us to focus on our prep without too much distractions.Despite attractions aplenty in Chicago they mean business. All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster dismissed any notion of Saturdays Test at a sold out Soldier Field being one where they will change things up. Instead, with three further Tests waiting in Europe over the coming weekends, they see this as a seminal match in their unbeaten year.For us this is a pretty pivotal game in our tour, Foster said. To come here and clearly weve had a few disruptions and were playing Ireland who will be gunning for us so for us we see this as a massive game.Well work on the word development later on, this week is about performing at the top level and by doing that and having that as our focus, thats how we grow. There might be a few changes here and there but its not about just giving guys opportunity, its about making sure this squad performs at a high level every week.Their build-up has been far from straight forward. The Aaron Smith saga hung over them as he missed their last two Tests -- he is now back in contention -- but they will need to blood at least one debutant in the second-row with Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick injured and Luke Romano returning to New Zealand due to a family bereavement.That sees them head into Saturdays Test with three second-rows in the uncapped Scott Barrett and Vaea Fifita and 10-cap Patrick Tuipulotu. Despite their relative inexperience -- they could come up against Ireland duo Devin Toner and Donnacha Ryan who have 79 caps between them -- Foster is confident they will deliver.Theyve come in and done what we need them to do, Foster said. Theyve got some good teachers around them and the boys have come on tour. Scott and Vaea have worked really hard to get up to speed and theyre doing a good job at it.Although the Cubs are currently dominating the agenda, come Saturday the All Blacks will be back in the sporting spotlight. Having announced themselves in Chicago back in 2014 when they eased past the U.S., they have fond memories of being here.There is a good buzz around the city, All Blacks centre Ryan Crotty said. Hopefully it carries over to next weekend. From a couple of years ago, theres a little more knowledge around what rugby is and who the All Blacks are compared to when we were here last time.But come Saturday, this will be about delivering in front of 61,500 folk at Soldier Field and securing their 19th straight victory. Adidas Deerupt Kengät . With the first unit struggling of late and Amir Johnson - one of the teams iron men - hobbling on an injured right ankle, Patterson knew he could get the nod in a challenging matchup against one of the leagues up and coming players at his position. Adidas NMD XR1 Suomi .C. -- Chris Thorburn thinks one of the reasons the Winnipeg Jets have been successful under new coach Paul Maurice is that theyre playing together as a team. http://www.nmdhalvalla.com/adidas-nmd-cs1-halvalla.html . - NASCAR announced a 33-race schedule for the 2014 Nationwide Series with virtually no changes from this years slate. Adidas NMD Halvalla . 10 Texas A&Ms offence dominated as usual against SMU. Adidas NMD Suomi . LOUIS -- Heading into the final stretch of the season, the issues for the Chicago Bears banged-up defence only seem to be getting worse. Departing Queensland Reds star Liam Gill says his young teammates must heed the lessons of a horror fortnight or face yet another barren year in Super Rugby.The Reds were beaten 31-28 by the Melbourne Rebels on Friday night, unable to provide Gill, Greg Holmes and a number of other players who were playing their last game for the club with a winning farewell.Gill, who was acting as captain in the absence of James Slipper (sternum), slammed Queenslands first-half performance as the worst 40 minutes of football hes ever been involved in.Just like in the 50-5 belting against the Chiefs a week earlier, the Reds were shellshocked after conceding a try in the opening seconds of the match and were so bad defensively, they can count themselves as fortunate to have only gone into the half-time break down 24-7.While the second half was vastly improved, Gill said those set to take the baton from the stalwarts who are leaving the Reds need to realise they cant afford to keep playing as they have.Theres been a couple of stern lessons in the last two weeks, said Gill, who has signeed for French Top 14 club Toulon.ddddddddddddWeve got a lot of young players in the squad so the best thing they can do is learn from it, but not forget whats happened.The last 40 minutes summed up how we want to play.Hopefully they figure out how to get there so they can move forward.If they dont its going to be another ugly season, but I have faith if they put their head to it and front up, we showed what we can do - we can put points on a good defending team.The injection of Taniela Tupou, Campbell Magnay and Lukhan Tui - arguably the three best young players coming through at Ballymore - in the second half helped change the game, which Exeter-bound prop Holmes said was a sign of the calibre of talent the Reds now have at their disposal.It hurts, I really wanted to win and the team wanted to finish the season well, but in my bigger scheme of things... thats the way footy goes, he said.I think the Reds are looking good for years to come. 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