Ireland face a mammoth task in Chicago on Saturday as they attempt to beat a red hot All Blacks side for the first time in 28 games.
As if taking on the double World Cup winners wasn’t hard enough, New Zealand are on a record winning run of 18 matches.
In that spell their average winning margin has been 28 points, and they score 5.7 tries per game.
Here we take a look back at the ones that got away.
Ireland 22-24 New Zealand
24 November 2013
After bursting out of the blocks and racing into a 19-0 lead with tries from Conor Murray, Rory Best and Rob Kearney, Ireland were pegged back to 22-17 in the second half.
With Brian O’Driscoll forced off with an injury, Johnny Sexton could have pushed the lead to eight with six minutes to play.
Captain Richie McCaw later admitted that a successful shot “would have sealed it”.
The hosts had possession at the death and tried to run down the clock but conceded a penalty at a ruck.
Just 107 seconds later Ryan Crotty touched down in the corner, with Aaron Cruden’s conversion, at the second attempt, denying Ireland what would have been the most pointless of draws.
New Zealand 22-19 Ireland
16 June 2012
The consensus was that a draw would have been of little consolation in 2013, but just a year previous, it would have been the least Ireland deserved.
Coming off the back of a dismal 42-10 first-Test loss, Ireland produced one of their best away performances to give the All Blacks a real fright.
With New Zealand having the put-in in a scrum deep in their own half, ref Nigels Owens awarded a debatable penalty against Ireland, handing the home side a platform to attack.
The heroic efforts of O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Sean O’Brien, Cian Healy, Kevin McLaughlin et al counted for nought as the All Blacks moved into position and Dan Carter landed a late drop-goal.
The following week Declan Kidney’s side lost the third Test 60-0.
Ireland 29-40 New Zealand
17 November 2001
Ireland were coming off the back of a Slam-busting 20-14 win over England and hopes were high.
A 20-year-old Richie McCaw was making his debut, while Anthony Foley and Jonah Lomu, who have both passed away in the last year, were among the stars of this show.
Assorted kicks from David Humphreys and tries from Kevin Maggs and Denis Hickie helped Ireland to a 21-7 lead early in the second half.
But an irresistible scoring burst of 33 points in 30 minutes, including five tries, put the game out of Warren Gatland’s side’s reach.
“One of the best Irish sides I've seen,” was the post-game verdict of New Zealand coach John Mitchell.
Ireland 10-10 New Zealand
20 January 1973
Out-played for most of the game, Ireland trailed by 10-3 with seven minutes to go in front of 50,000 at Lansdowne Road.
However, a Barry McGann penalty and a Tom Grace try, worth four points, levelled matters up.
The match report in the following day’s Sunday Independent claims that had McGann’s late conversion attempt not drifted wide, an Ireland win would have been “something akin to robbery”.
Despite that verdict, coach Syd Millar declared he was “not really satisfied with the draw”.
All Blacks captain Ian Kirkpatrick admitted the “Irish caught us” as their Grand Slam bid came undone.
