Ian McKinley said that heading to Japan with Italy next month, 10 years after featuring there for Ireland in the Junior World Cup, would circle a remarkable rugby journey.

The visit of Treviso to the RDS this Friday may not make for the most alluring of starts to the new Guinness PRO12 campaign but the presence of Ian McKinley in the Italians’ ranks will at least provide a candidate for feelgood story of the season.