Ireland captain Rory Best revealed that a determination to be bold had paid off after his team ended a century-long losing streak against New Zealand yesterday.
 Just days after the Chicago Cubs ended their 108-year wait for a World Series baseball crown, Ireland erased their own rugby hoodoo by scoring the first-ever win in the 111-year history of meetings between the two nations at Soldier Field.
 Best said Ireland had learned the lessons of 2013, when they had squandered a 19-0 lead against the Kiwis before suffering an agonising 22-24 loss in Dublin. “In 2013, we lost it in the last quarter,” Best recalled.
 The veteran hooker admitted Ireland had been forced to react after New
Zealand slashed a 30-8 deficit to just four points, 33-29, with around 15 minutes left.
 “When they came back to a four-point game the key was to keep attacking them. We just said we have to keep attacking them, and that when they started putting us under pressure we didn’t start diving into lost causes, that we kept our defensive shape,” Best
revealed.
 “But we wanted to also keep getting the ball back, because when we’ve got the ball in our hands we’ve shown we can be dangerous. That’s what we were trying to do... don’t sit back and hope, go out and grab it.”
 The key to victory was Ireland’s ability to grab scores at pivotal moments, Best said, citing centre Robbie Henshaw’s late try which took the Irish 11 points clear.
 “There have been a lot of great Irish teams and players that have come close and we just haven’t been clinical enough to finish it,” Best said. “The try Robbie got was pivotal.”
 Ireland’s New Zealander coach, Joe Schmidt, admitted he had been left with flashbacks to 2013 as the All Blacks chipped away at his side’s commanding second-half lead.
 “At 33-29, you get nervous about that for sure,” Schmidt said. “We scored at the start of the second half and the end of the second half and that was crucial.”
 Best, meanwhile, admitted his teammates had been determined to savour their moment of triumph after finally defeating New Zealand.
 Best led Ireland’s players on a lap of Soldier Field following the whistle, soaking up the applause from a large contingent of green-clad fans in the 62,300 crowd.
 “You’ve got to take a moment whenever you create history,” Best said.
 The victory was even more special given the fact that the All Blacks, back-to-back world champions in 2011 and 2015, had been on a record 18-match winning streak, he added.
 “It’s a massive mark of respect we have for the All Blacks that it means so much to us because they’re such a quality side,” Best said.
 “To break our duck against them given the year they’ve had is a massive thing for us. We want to make sure that we celebrate that.”