Georgia captain out of England game

The Georgia captain, Ilia Zedginidze, and the flanker Irakli Gundishvili have been forced to pull out of next week's World Cup game against England because of injuries.

Zedginidze is recovering from a head injury he suffered against Italy last month while Gundishvili has a torn hamstring. The Georgian Rugby Union vice-president, Zaza Kassachvili, is still optimistic that his team could pull off an upset on 12 October. "England know even less about us than we do about them," he said. "Perhaps that will be to our advantage."

Canada confirmed that they are almost certain to field a weakened team against New Zealand to boost their chances of making the quarter-finals. Despite the prospect of a huge defeat, the Canada coach, Dave Clark, said yesterday that it would be in his side's interests to rest their best players.

"We play the All Blacks five days after our first game against Wales and we're playing Italy three days after that," Clark said at the squad's official welcome at the Woonona Shamrocks rugby club south of Sydney. "If we want to make the quarter-finals then it's crucial we win those games, so obviously we have to look at the best way of preserving our players."