Ireland tour of Japan: The formalities were observed at a team meeting high in the Osaka skyline, the names of Matt McCullough and Roger Wilson added to the list of Irish Test match players. Both will make their debuts when Ireland take on Japan in the 58,000-capacity Nagai stadium on Sunday.

It is appropriate they will share this seminal moment as their rugby careers have been intertwined since they first played together for Ulster schools. Born in the same month and year, September 1981, their pathway to Sunday involved sharing staging posts at Ulster Schools, Ireland Schools, Dublin University and Ulster. They even managed to claim a first Ireland A cap on the same day, a victory over France in the season just elapsed.

This statistical symmetry is bound neatly in a friendship so it wasn't a surprise they expressed happiness at each other's good fortune.

McCullough smiled: "It's been a hell of a long season. Having the opportunity to go away somewhere as different as Japan, the culture is unbelievably different, was really refreshing and has given me a bit of a boost that was very helpful at the end of a long season. The prospect of getting a full international cap was more than enough to get me excited for the trip.

"I was on a high on the way to training. The fact there's only three secondrows here suggested I was going to be involved in some way (on Sunday). I was very hopeful. Obviously I got involved (with the squad) during the Six Nations when Leo (Cullen) got injured for the five or six weeks and just hoped that I made an impression."

He did.

Wilson is impatient as he has stood on the threshold of a first cap for what must seem like an eternity to the number eight. "It can't really come soon enough. At the start of this year I had set my sights on getting capped in some form. The easiest way to do that would have been against the USA but unfortunately I put myself out of contention when I got injured a couple of weeks before that.

"The next most realistic opportunity would have been Japan and to make the tour and then take it from there. The way things were going with Irish performances over the past few years, it was going to be difficult to break into the Irish set-up. I'm sort of lucky that this tour might be regarded as slightly developmental in terms of the players but delighted to be given this opportunity."

Ireland's head coach in Japan, Niall O'Donovan, resisted the temptation to blood other young tyros, opting instead to provide an experienced backbone in the shape of Girvan Dempsey, Kevin Maggs, captain David Humphreys, Peter Stringer, Marcus Horan and Frankie Sheahan. Reggie Corrigan and Eric Miller are on the bench.

There weren't too many selection issues - O'Donovan had discussed the composition of the team with Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan from the latter' s Lions base in New Zealand - outside the composition of the backrow. Alan Quinlan, a late replacement for the Lions-bound Simon Easterby, wins a starting place as an acknowledgement of his lineout ability.

Gavin Duffy has been named in the centre, a role he occasionally fulfilled with Harlequins. Outside of Corrigan and Miller, the other five members of the replacements can muster a single cap - Jeremy Staunton.

O'Donovan was conscious of identifying a mix of youth and experience. "We have six very good backrow players so that took a little time but in saying that we have 26 guys with us whom I believe we can use. This match gives us an opportunity to try guys like Gavin (Duffy) in the centre. The fact almost our entire backline is away with the Lions gives us scope to experiment.

"It was never going to be a case of just throwing a bunch of young players together. We're here to win two Test matches; that is the priority as well as trying to widen the pool of players. If we manage to get six or seven players from this group to add to the (regular) pool it will have been successful."

The heat and humidity (27 degrees yesterday) haven't affected training as much as the less than smooth sand-based surface but the latter is just a minor irritant. The Irish party has been well received and about 30,000 Japanese rugby fans are expected to attend Sunday's match.

McCullough admitted: "I will be nervous. The focus will be on my basics: to win lineout ball, scrum like mad and work my ass off around the field.If I can do those, defend well, make a couple of big hits and tie the ball up then anything else on top of that will be a bonus. As an Irish pack we'll be looking to have an impact on them. We know we're going to have to hang on to the ball for 70/80 per cent of game."

Wilson surmised: "I'm hoping with the backrow they've picked there is a bit of everything in there. Looking at it (backrow), I hope I'm going to be used as a primary ball carrier. I reckon I'll be carrying a lot of ball."

15 G Dempsey (Leinster)

14 T Bowe (Ulster)

13 G Duffy (Harlequins)

12 K Maggs (Ulster)

11 A Horgan (Munster)

10 D Humphreys (Ulster) capt

9 P Stringer (Munster)

1 M Horan (Munster)

2 F Sheahan (Munster)

3 S Best (Ulster)

4 L Cullen (Leicester)

5 M McCullough (Ulster)

6 A Quinlan (Munster)

7 J O'Connor (Wasps)

8 R Wilson (Ulster)

Replacements: B Jackman (Leinster), R Corrigan (Leinster), T Hogan (Munster), E Miller (Leinster), K Campbell (Ulster), J Staunton (Wasps), D Quinlan (Leinster).