Ireland v Namibia

Mercurial fly-half Ronan O’Gara stepped into the World Cup spotlight at a rain-drenched Aussie Stadium as Ireland looked to dispose of Namibia with the minimum of fuss.

O’Gara is facing the likelihood of missing the key Pool A clashes with Argentina and Australia unless he can put in a performance good enough to persuade coach Eddie O’Sullivan to dump David Humphreys from his first-choice line-up.

The entire Irish back three – Simon Easterby, Alan Quinlan and Eric Miller - were in a similar position, although it is difficult to see how they can prove their abilities against such weak opposition.

Namibia have actually won both previous meetings between the sides but they were back in 1991, since when Ireland have advanced to their present standing as number four in the world.

In addition, Namibia suffered a 60-point mauling by Argentina in their opening game last week and though coach Dave Waterstone has promised a more competitive display from his enthusiastic part-timers in front of a capacity 40,000 crowd today, Ireland will be confident of beating their 53-8 World Cup record win achieved against the United States four years ago.