High-profile international rugby will return to America in November, as New Zealand, Ireland and the Maori All Blacks descend on Chicago for ‘The Rugby Weekend’.

Soldier Field will once again host New Zealand, the 2015 Rugby World Cup winners, in a match against Ireland on the second day of the weekend (5 November 2016). USA Rugby Eagles will play the Maori All Blacks – a team made up exclusively of players with Maori genealogy – on 4 November at Toyota Park.

In November 2014, the All Blacks played the USA in front of a crowd of 61,500 – a record attendance for elite rugby in America.

“The city and fans have shown the world how passionate they are about the sport and we think this weekend will again take the game’s popularity to another level,” said USA Rugby chief executive Nigel Melville.

Rugby is a growing sport in the US, and the governing body now has 125,000 members, while more than 32,000 athletes are playing collegiate rugby and a further 27,000 people taking part in senior club rugby.

New Zealand Rugby chief executive Steve Tew said he expected the sport in America to attract a “whole new group of fans”, while Ireland Rugby Football Union director of commercial and marketing Padraig Power said he was expecting a number of spectators with Irish heritage to come to the match.

“Irish Americans will relish seeing the Ireland Rugby team contribute further to the development of the game of rugby in the US, complementing the wonderful growth of the game to date,” he added.