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It is a fine line New Zealand Rugby is treading by taking their first spring tour Test with Ireland to Chicago - it is a test in more ways than one.While I applaud the initiative -- Chicago is really good business -- from New Zealand Rugby, there is also a need for some caution.Chicago is heart and soul of the USA Irish community. There are a lot of Irish people there and Ireland is the perfect team, especially in the form they have been in in recent years to go there and play against the All Blacks.Eighty percent of the people going to the game will be passionate Irish fans and they will be looking for Ireland to win. It will be a home game for Ireland and they will treat it like a home game because the fans will be right behind them.It is great the game will be played in front of a new viewing public, while New Zealand Rugby can also make some serious money.But the danger is that if the game is a drawn-out affair without the razzle-dazzle, the American audience will switch off because they are not passionately behind either side - they could say Ill go for the black team or the green team.What they want to see is athletic talent, plenty of tries and some big hits.But if the games fails to deliver, a lot of spectators will be confused by the laws; they wont understand whats going on. If theres a collapsed scrum theyll say, what the hells that? And at a pile-up at a breakdown it will be a case of what are these guys doing? It wont look organised and the defensive structure wont be obvious -- they wont get it.Theres a big chance a 21-17 scoreline would leave the American public saying, what was that? Thats the danger, even though you have two of the best rugby teams in the world; its the complexity of the game that will be hard for them to understand.The difference between this game and Chicago last time against the USA Eagles in 2014 was that that was a one-sided affair and no American wants to go and watch his team get thrashed. They are a proud nation who want to go and see their team do well and they will have that chance the day before when the Eagles play the Maori All Blacks.What the NZR are trying to do is dent the outside by throwing a few stones and create a bit of impact. The diehard rugby fans that live inside America know about this game but 95 percent of sport-loving Americans havent got a clue about rugby. What NZR are doing is picking up some low-hanging fruit, putting some coppers in the bank by playing a credible top-tier nation. Its a good thing.We look at what the USA Eagles do from time to time and we tend to think that for a country of 330 million people they should be a hell of a lot better than what they are. But their talented kids usually play other sports and rugby picks up the leftovers, or people who get involved in the social side of it.A lot of people are trying to lift interest in the game there. The professional league has started and people like Mils Muliaina and Jamie Mackintosh have been involved in it; at some point they are going to create some good players who do some special things and will create some interest. To achieve that they need to have high level rugby played and what better team to do that than the All Blacks against the likes of Ireland? At least they can see what a real Test match is all about.It will be a great occasion. All Steve Hansen and the players have to do is just worry about playing the game.It will be interesting to see how Ireland play - they are a dangerous side. We need to treat them with the respect they deserve.The All Blacks have found themselves in a position where they are always trying to improve. The culture within the All Blacks at the moment is about how can they get better; how do they improve and find that perfect game?Every game they win now extends their world record and the expectation is such that they have got to a level where no-one wants to let them down and there are really good noises coming out of the camp. The competition for spots is huge.Beauden Barrett didnt start as the first-choice No.10 this year. TJ Perenara wasnt the second-best half-back and now hes kicked on. The midfield is the same. There are so many good positional stories inside the All Blacks camp that whoever gets that jersey they will step up to it; that has come about because of the depth in the squad.Talking of competition, it was a great finale to the domestic season with the Mitre 10 finals at the weekend.I was really pleased for Bryn Gatland and the North Harbour team. How Waikato ever let Gatland go is unbelievable. His composure, to put what was a pretty ugly dropped goal through, resulted in a pretty special moment for that young side.I think that side has the makings of a really good team. Michael Little impresses me. You go through players like Damian McKenzie, Nehe Milner-Skudder and even Walter Little [Michaels father] and they are not the biggest men in the world but they have got some talent and fight.And Michael Little showed that fight in the final - he wasnt going to give up. The only downside for him is that he is not as big as Sonny Bill Williams. But hes got the mongrel, the fight and the heart.The skipper, lock Chris Vui, has been injured for the last couple of years but this year he has been absolutely immense. Hes been a great leader for them and done really well.North Harbours problem now they are in the Premiership is that they have to get some sort of consistency and flow-on. They want to keep that core of players together and whoever comes in as coach now that Steve Jackson has moved on to the Blues has to retain that consistency.The perfect example of that sort of consistency is Canterbury. They never change too much. The coaches may come and go but the assistants stay and the team and culture is retained; thats why theyve got eight titles in nine years.It was interesting too, that both coaches, Jackson for North Harbour and Scott Robertson got named as Super Rugby coaches part way through the season and both teams lifted. Thats probably players thinking they should make an impression and possibly get a Super Rugby contract.And I know weve mentioned Richie Mounga during the season but hes another 10 to be considered, he is just getting better and better. You can look at where the All Blacks might be in 12 months time but this Mitre 10 Cup consistently throws up players who say, hey, dont forget about me. Paul George Shoes From China . Robredo, ranked No. 16, bounced back from an upset loss to Leonardo Mayer in the second round of the Royal Guard Open in Chile last week to down Carreno Busta in 1 hour, 25 minutes. On a day filled mostly with qualifying matches, fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also entered the second with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, while Guido Pella of Argentina defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4 to advance. Paul George Shoes Outlet . -- The goal posts lying flat on the field, Arizonas fans lingered on the field, congregating around the locker room entrance nearly 30 minutes after rushing out of the stands. https://www.cheappaulgeorgeshoes.com/ . Barcelona also left injured defenders Carles Puyol, Javier Mascherano and Jordi Alba out of its squad for the trip to Glasgow. That means that Marc Bartra will probably start again in the centre of the defence alongside Gerard Pique. Paul George Shoes For Sale . -- The St. Johns IceCaps weathered a wild first period with the help of goaltender Jussi Olkinuora, before finding offensive inroads in the second. Paul George Shoes Deals . Following a lopsided 5-2 loss against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night, Paul MacLean told reporters that "theres a lack of focus, theres a lack of leadership and theres a lack of preparation" with his struggling team. That came on the heels of Bryan Murray taking the unusual step of going into the locker room at the Prudential Center and addressing the players himself.With the Cleveland Cavaliers level with the Toronto Raptors after four games and the Golden State Warriors 2-1 down to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who will go through to the NBA Finals? Alex Ferguson answers the questions. Whats happened?If you want an NBA Conference Finals set of pure craziness, then go no further than both the Golden State vs Oklahoma City and Cleveland vs Toronto series which will decide the winners of the Western and Eastern Conferences, respectively.Both Golden State and Cleveland were meant to win their series pretty comfortably, with Cleveland especially anticipated to have no trouble with the Raptors whatsoever. The amount of US media that used the words its over when Cleveland pummelled the Raptors to go 2-0 up was astonishing. Since then its been one-way traffic, and not in the way of LeBron James and Co. Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors goes up against Steven Adams of the Oklahoma City Thunder With Golden State and Oklahoma City, its been a weird series. Golden State had a comfortable lead in Game 1, blew it, and then lost the game on a controversial travelling call, where many believed Oklahoma Citys Russell Westbrook had taken too many steps.Golden State roared back to take Game 2 comfortably, and you thought the end was nigh for Kevin Durant, Westbrook and Co. Well, theyve beaten the Spurs already, you thought, give them their due until next time. Well, Oklahoma City werent quite ready to walk yet, smashing Golden State by 28 points in Game 3 and battering the Warriors on both ends of the glass - despite Steph Curry still dropping nearly 30 of his own.A quick shout-out must go to The Thunders Steven Adams, who took what looked like a legitimate kick to the groin from Draymond Green in Game 4. He played on. Cory Joseph of the Toronto Raptors shoots against James So what should we watch out for in the pivotal next games?It might sound stupid bearing in mind they are 2-1 up but Oklahoma City, who have a reputation of being NNBA chokers, have to win Game 4 on Tuesday night.ddddddddddddou might say but that means that the series is still tied, but if youre 2-1 up against Golden State and have beaten them more times than most teams beat them in the regular season, you have to be aggressive and go for the jugular in Game 4. Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder drives against Curry If Durant and Westbrook are consistent (Westbrook cant have the 16-point game he had in Game 2 or the awful start he had in Game 1), then its going to scare Golden State, for whom only Curry is really firing properly. The Thunder will try to annoy the volatile Green, who was awful in Game 3 but will be hell-bent on revenge. As for Golden State, they have to keep feeding the ball to Curry and Klay Thompson.Thompson has got to get back into it, after not-great back-to-back games, where he failed to hit the 20-point mark.In Cleveland, the Cavs cant look at it as two opportunities lost, because Toronto were actually a very good home team, losing only nine games in the Air Canada Centre all season long. But although James was his usual excellent self in both the away games, Kyrie Irving was dreadful in Game 3 and only rebounded slightly in Game 4. Joseph of the Toronto Raptors guards Kyrie Irving And the poorest of the lot has been Kevin Love who managed 13 total points in Toronto, and has been atrocious from three-point range - which was meant to be a strength of his. Love has to get his offensive game together to be a good enough foil for James and Irving for the Cavs to stop this series going to seven games, which is really the last thing they want after being 2-0 up.So whos going to win the pivotal games?I think Game 4 is going to be won by Oklahoma City which is going to put the Warriors within one game of elimination, and I think Cleveland take Game 5 at home on Wednesday night.And whos my tip to win the Conference Finals?(Deep Breath): Ill go Golden State in seven games and Cleveland in seven games. ' ' '