IRFU confirm Japanese tests

The IRFU have confirmed that an Irish side will travel to Japan for two tests next summer, despite the presence of the British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand on the 2005 international calendar.

Eddie O'Sullivan will bring a squad, shorn of Ireland's Lions representatives, to the Far East for two Sunday tests, on June 12 and 19.

The Irish management have also requested an extra fixture for acclimatisation purposes.

The opening test in Toyko, will be the first Ireland has ever played on Japanese soil.

O'Sullivan's charges will be defending an unbeaten record of three-wins-from-three.

The most recent being a 78-9 success at Lansdowne Road in November 2000, where Leinster wing Denis Hickie grabbed a hat-trick of tries and out-half Ronan O'Gara, making his sixth international start, kicked all but one of 11 conversions.

The Lions' first test against the All-Blacks takes place in Christchurch on June 25.