Ireland put through their paces before Japan Test

The Irish team trained today in Osaka University just as Japan named their team for Sunday's first Test prior to the IRB deadline.

The Irish squad were back to work following their visit to the Temples of Kyoto on Thursday and Niall O'Donovan took the squad through their paces on the University's near-perfect artificial surface on the outskirts of the city.

With the Irish team already selected, O'Donovan and assistants Michael Bradley and Mark McCall concentrated on preparation for the game on Sunday, in what was the final full training session for the squad before the Captain's run on Saturday.

Defensive Coach Mark McCall ran his section early during session and the Ulsterman confirmed that the team's defensive performance will be the key to winning on Sunday.

McCall said: "With the speed that Japan have in their backline, you certainly cannot afford to be placing loose kicks in around their back three. They love to run from deep and are exceptionally quick, so it is an area that we must be wary of."

Speaking about Japan's own defensive capabilities, he said: "They are quite physical on the oppositions ball at ruck and maul, but also along the backline, so we will have to work very hard to break them down".

This is the first time that McCall has been involved in the Irish senior set up and although there are several players in New Zealand with the Lions, he thinks that this group of players has bonded very quickly and has made his and the rest of the coaching staff's job a lot easier.

He said: "From my point of view, the players all work with similar defensive systems in their own provinces and clubs, so it's a case of ensuring that they are all comfortable with the Irish system for Sunday. The players have all worked well together and we are all looking forward to the game on Sunday".

Japan team: (15) Goshi Tachikawa; (14) Daisuke Ohata, (13) Reben Parkinson, (12) Yukio Motoki, (11) Hiroki Mizuno; (10) Kyohei Morita, (9) Wataru Murata; (1) Hiroshi Takahashi, (2) Ken Tsukagoshi, (3) Ryo Yamamura, (4) Takanori Kumagae, (5) Jamie Washington, (6) Hare Makiri, (7) Ryota Asano, (8) Takuro Miuchi (Captain).

Replacements: (16) Masakazu Nakabayashi, (17) Kenji Kasai, (18) Shigeyasu Takagi, (19) Hitoshi Ono, (20) Shota Goto, (21) Tomoaki Nakai (22) Teppei Tomioka.