Italy, who play their home Six Nations fixtures at Rome’s 70,000-seater Stadio Olimpico, also distanced themselves from the possibility of taking a game across the Atlantic.
“The United States has all the potential to be a major market for the growth of our sport: in this respect, Italy was ahead of its time by playing a test match against Ireland in Chicago back in 2018,” said a spokesman for the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR).
“An event like the one between South Africa and the All Blacks – one of the greatest rivalries on the international calendar – can serve as an exciting preview of the upcoming Men’s and Women’s Rugby World Cups in 2031 and 2033.
“At present, however, there are no discussions between FIR and other stakeholders on the possibility of a Six Nations test taking place in the US.”
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, external and The Times, external, Gilpin said: “This isn’t a live discussion of an Italy v Ireland game, but why we use that as an example is because you’ve got two fantastic fanbases in the US of Irish and Italian fans.
“If you could take a Six Nations game to the right place, to a Boston or to a New York, where there’s a lot of those fanbases, you can definitely drive the economics.
“Now, you’re going to have Irish fans and Italian fans in those respective home countries saying: ‘Hang on a minute, you know, we want to see our country play?’
“The counter-argument to that [is] it’s still Irish and Italian fans getting the chance to watch their team, so they’re just not the ones who live in Ireland and Italy on this occasion. But that’s a balancing piece we’ve got to work through.”
Ireland have previously enjoyed two well-attended games in the US against New Zealand.
They memorably beat the All Blacks for the first time when the teams met in front of a capacity 60,000-strong crowd at Chicago’s Soldier Field in 2016, with a 2025 rematch which they lost also proving a similar commercial success.
