O'Kelly out of Kidney's future plans

Malcolm O'Kelly was the biggest casualty when Ireland announced a reduced squad for their autumn schedule yesterday.

The Leinster veteran O'Kelly, Ireland's most capped international, was one of seven players missing from the original 41-man party unveiled by the head coach Declan Kidney last week.

Barry Murphy (Munster), Gavin Duffy (Connacht), Bob Casey (London Irish), Tom Court (Ulster), Michael Ross (Harlequins) and Roger Wilson (Northampton) were also omitted.

O'Kelly has been struggling with a neck injury recently but started in last weekend's Magners League defeat by Glasgow. Kidney names his starting line-up to face Canada at the redeveloped Thomond Park in Ireland's opening November international next Tuesday.

Australia and New Zealand are in talks about staging Bledisloe Cup Test matches in Denver and Tokyo over the next two years. The southern hemisphere giants meet in Hong Kong tomorrow – their first ever Bledisloe Cup meeting on neutral soil – with the game set to be a sell-out and a catalyst for wider global expansion.

The Australian Rugby Union chief executive, John O'Neill, and his New Zealand counterpart, Steve Tew, will meet in Hong Kong to discuss the prospect of taking next year's game to the United States. "We have several opportunities in front of us for 2009 and 2010," said Tew. "The Denver game has been mentioned. It is fair to say that both Australia and New Zealand will look to explore that further. "

The Hong Kong fixture is raising over £5m in revenue and New Zealand are believed to be earning around double what they have been paid to play England at Twickenham on 29 November. But Tew and O'Neill stressed their shared desire to take the game to new audiences, with Asia and America seen as key territories.