Rugby News: The majority of the Ireland squad heading for their two Test tour of Japan - they leave on Saturday week - will be in action today at a closed-door practice match (Wanderers FC, 1.0) to facilitate the Irish team management led by Niall O'Donovan.
He will coach Ireland on the summer tour in the absence of Eddie O'Sullivan who travels with the Lions to New Zealand.
His two assistants Michael Bradley and Mark McCall, the respective head coaches of Connacht and Ulster, take charge of the teams today.
Two absentees among the playing personnel are Peter Stringer and Marcus Horan who are nursing knocks and have been rested as a precautionary measure. One name that perhaps won't be familiar is that of Lewis Johnson, named at tighthead on McCall's team. The Ballynahinch prop is a former Ireland under-21 international.
O'Donovan has already intimated that this match will serve as sorting out of one or two issues in terms of the pecking order and a chance for players to lay down an early marker for the Japan trip.
Given the fact there are only two matches on the tour asserting dominance early is vital and that should guarantee a competitive afternoon today.
BRADLEY'S TEAM (Whites): M McHugh (Connacht); T Bowe (Ulster), K Lewis (Leinster), J Downey (Connacht), G Brown (Leinster); P Wallace (Ulster), C Keane (Connacht); J Lyne (Leinster), P Shields (Ulster), S Best (Ulster); T Hogan (Munster), B Gissing (Leinster); S Easterby (Llanelli), D Leamy (Munster), R Wilson (Ulster). Replacements: D Fitzpatrick (Ulster), D Blaney (Leinster), D Dillon (Leinster), K Gleeson (Leinster), F Murphy (Munster), D McAllister (Leinster), A Maxwell (Ulster).
MCCALL'S TEAM (Blues): G Duffy (Harlequins); C McPhillips (Connacht), P Devlin (Munster), D Quinlan (Northampton), A Horgan (Munster); P Burke (Munster), K Campbell (Ulster); R Corrigan (Leinster), B Jackman (Leinster), L Johnson (Ballynahinch); L Cullen (Leicester), M McCullough (Ulster); D Wallace (Munster), S Jennings (Leicester), A Quinlan (Munster). Replacements: R McCormack (Leinster), J Fogarty (Connacht), M Swift (Connacht), J O'Sullivan (Connacht), B O'Riordan (Leinster), E Hickey (Leinster), D Yapp (Connacht).
Referee: Alan Lewis.
BARBARIANS (v England at Twickenham on Saturday): Brent Russell (South Africa); Wendell Sailor (Australia), Thomas Castaignede (France), Trevor Halstead (South Africa), Bruce Reihana (New Zealand); Carlos Spencer (New Zealand), Mark Robinson (New Zealand); Tom Smith (Scotland), Mark Regan (England), Cobus Visagie (South Africa), Simon Shaw (England), Selborne Boome (South Africa), Corne Krige (South Africa, capt), Sebastien Chabal (France), Johnny O'Connor (Ireland). Replacements: Raphael Ibanez (France), Andrea Lo Cicero (Italy), A J Venter (South Africa), Semo Sititi (Samoa), Bryan Redpath (Scotland), David Humphreys (Ireland), Girvan Dempsey (Ireland).
