Three Things You Need to Know About the All Blacks v Ireland Game

Three things to know about the All Blacks team to play Ireland in Chicago, named by coach Steven Hansen this morning.

Brothers

Scott and Beauden Barrett will become the 45th set of All Blacks brothers on Sunday, with Scott expected to make his test debut from the bench.

There will be an even more unique fraternal occurrence in Chicago as well: with two sets of brothers, the Barretts and Saveas, selected in an All Blacks team.

The last time that happened was on 22 July 1961 when Ian and Don Clarke played alongside Colin and Stan Meads in the first test against France on Eden Park.

You Two Again

All Blacks captain Kieran Read and Owen Franks will play Ireland for the seventh time on Sunday. Read started in five of those six previous encounters, scoring three tries.

Read will play his 95th test on Sunday and a victory would be his 84th win - seeing him tie eighth on the all-time wins list alongside former teammates Mils Muliaina and Conrad Smith. Read is the only test captain to lead a side to victories in 19 straight tests.

Tries Galore

All Blacks players hold the top five spots for tries scored by international players this year: Israel Dagg is top with eight tries, Beauden Barrett, Julian Savea and Ben Smith have scored seven, with TJ Perenara on five tries.

Smith, however, has scored just one try against Ireland in four tests. Savea has scored four against Ireland, three of those coming in his test debut in 2012.