World Cup in brief: Ireland delay

Ireland have delayed naming their team until tomorrow for their final Pool A match against Australia in Melbourne on Saturday to allow players to recover from a bruising match against Argentina. The losers meet France in the quarter-finals.

Bryan Redpath missed training at Shark Park, Cronulla, yesterday after stubbing his toe getting into bed. The Scotland captain had three stitches but will be available to play against Fiji on Saturday. Gregor Townsend missed training with a cold, but will be available for the match, which will be shown on ITV1 rather than ITV2 as originally scheduled.

The France coach, Bernard Laporte, gave his first-string players a vote of confidence by naming the team for the World Cup quarter-finals yesterday, 13 days before kick-off. A second-string side will play the last Pool B match against the United States.

Samoa cannot bring in their preferred replacement for the injured winger Ron Fanuatanu. Sosene Anesi, who plays for Waikato in the New Zealand National Provincial Championship, has declined the invitation to replace Fanuatanu since he has already signed a contract with the New Zealand Rugby Union.