Ireland wait on Wood

Rugby: Georgia have named a 25-man squad for their World Cup qualifier against Ireland at Lansdowne Road on Saturday, with only one notable absentee. Their experienced flanker Guia Labadze cracked his cheekbone playing for his French club Toulon last weekend and will not be available for selection.

Lock Victor Didebulidze, who led the team in their warm-up games, is likely to retain the captaincy over Castres prop Levan Tsabadze in a squad that includes four uncapped players.

Currently 17th in the World rankings, Georgia come to Ireland with only four survivors from the team that lost 70-0 to Ireland in the World Cup qualifier four years ago, which is the only other time the two sides have met at international level.

In Dublin, Keith Wood took part in light training with the Irish squad yesterday and reported some slight improvement to the neck injury, which threatens to keep him out of Saturday's match.

A decision could be known today if Wood is definitely unfit to take part in the match, although if significant improvement continues, coach Eddie O'Sullivan may hold off making any decision until closer to the game.

Meanwhile, Australia have chosen two fresh faces for their tour of Argentina, Ireland, England and Italy in November - they play Ireland on November 9th at Lansdowne Road.

Australian under-21 and Canberra Vikings outhalf Matt Giteau has been selected for the tour as a third scrumhalf, while newly-signed Waratahs hooker Adam Freier will be Jeremy Paul's understudy.

National coach Eddie Jones said the selection of Giteau, who turns 20 on Sunday, and Freier is an exciting step towards the future.

"We have a two-tiered approached to selections," said Jones. "We need to pick proven players, who can win Test matches but at the same time we must bring through new talent that could play a role in next year's World Cup."

Giteau said the tour honour caps off a big year for him: "A lot has happened to me in 2002 but to be part of this tour is completely unexpected," he said.

Selectors opted for a third scrumhalf to cover for Wallaby skipper George Gregan who is scheduled to fly home during the tour to attend the birth of his second child.

AUSTRALIAN SQUAD

M Burke vice-capt (Waratahs), M Cockbain (Reds), D Croft* (Reds), B Darwin (Brumbies), O Finegan (Brumbies), E Flatley (Reds), A Freier* (Waratahs), D Giffin (Brumbies), Matt Giteau* (Brumbies), G Gregan \ (Brumbies), J Harrison (Brumbies), D Herbert (Reds), T Kefu (Reds), C Latham (Reds), S Larkham (Brumbies), D Lyons (Waratahs), S Mortlock (Brumbies), P Noriega (Waratahs), J Paul (Brumbies), M Rogers (Waratahs), W Sailor (Reds), G Smith (Brumbies), N Stiles (Reds), Ben Tune (Reds), D Vickerman (Brumbies), C Whitaker (Waratahs), B Young (Brumbies). * denotes uncapped player.