Ireland's head coach, Eddie O'Sullivan, yesterday warned his players they have four major hurdles to jump if they still want to be in Australia to enjoy Melbourne Cup race week.

Ireland are pooled with defending champions Australia and dangerous wild cards Argentina in the World Cup's toughest group. All three teams are in the world's top seven, but one will miss out on a prized quarter-final berth.

For Ireland, their fate could well come down to the final Pool A clash against the Wallabies in Melbourne, four days before the world-famous horse race where trainer Dermot Weld will go for a record third victory.

But O'Sullivan stressed the danger of concentrating too hard on the decisive encounters against Argentina and the Wallabies and overlooking the potential "banana-skin" clashes with minnows Namibia and, first up, Romania.

"I have always believed we have got four hurdles to cross before we get into the quarter-finals and if we are thinking of the third hurdle before we get to the first. we will fall flat on our face," he said.

"There is no point trying to play Argentina before the game - we have got Namibia and Romania to play and they are still important.

"You can still get four or five points from those wins and it's important to try and get those and start the tournament well."

The squad will not attend the International Rules Test between Ireland and Australia at the MCG because it is the night before their clash with the Wallabies, but what odds a visit to the races at Flemington? "That depends if we are still in Melbourne," O'Sullivan said with a smile. "I'm sure Dermot Weld would like to see us there."

To give his side the best chance possible, O'Sullivan and his staff have already worked out how they will negotiate the early games.

Ireland have recent history with Romania, beating them in Limerick last year, and O'Sullivan has been doing his homework on the Namibians.

Perhaps mindful that Ireland have lost both their previous encounters with Namibia, on a summer trip to Windhoek just before the 1991 World Cup, he has acquired video tapes of their games against Samoa and South Africa A.

"Every game is a Test game and you give it the same meticulous preparation you give any Test game," he said. "To do other than that is unprofessional and you are creating a banana skin for yourself no matter who you are playing."

O'Sullivan added that Romania must not be underestimated, citing the fact that the bulk of their squad now operates out of France as a potential danger.

"They play a French style and are very adept at off-loading in the tackle. Romania are a well able to put together a strong side and if you get your game plan wrong against them, you could be in trouble."

Despite that, O'Sullivan plans to give his entire squad a run during the opening two matches as the Irish build through the pool stages.

"We have talked about selection and training," he said. "From a selection point of view we will be playing what we think is pretty much our best XV for every game and building up through the pool.

"Everybody has been without a game for a while because of the cut-off point for the World Cup, so we want to get everybody on the field as soon as we can and get them up and running."

O'Sullivan added, however, that he has been impressed with his squad in recent days, "for demonstrating surprising enthusiasm considering they are still jet-lagged".

Having returned to the same Central Coast Grammar School on the outskirts of their base camp at Terrigal where they were drenched in rain the previous day, the Irish players got a first glimpse of what they expect from their adventure Down Under when blazing sunshine sent temperatures up to 25 degrees.

"The weather change in the morning was welcome and we got a very good session," said O'Sullivan. "It was quite physical when it needed to be and the boys showed a surprising enthusiasm."

Ireland though are likely to be denied a possible easy ride against Australia, even if the champions ensure qualification before their final pool game against O'Sullivan's outfit, as Wallabies coach Eddie Jones yesterday revealed he plans to play his strongest team in every match at the World Cup.

"We won't rotate players," Jones said at the team's training base in Coffs Harbour. "What we've got to do is build momentum and that's not to say that everyone won't play a game but it's not to say that everyone will.

"We'll definitely pick the best 22 for the first game and then we'll look at bringing people in and out depending on the games we have."

The world champions have not played since their 21-17 loss to New Zealand in mid-August but Jones has tried to make up for lost time by staging three internal matches.

The 30-man squad was split in half for the first match in Darwin last month then again for two more matches in Coffs Harbour. Jones told his players he was using the games as a guide to selecting the starting team for the opening match against Argentina on October 10th.

The Australians will announce their team next Wednesday but Jones said some positions were still up for grabs. It is generally accepted that Mat Rogers and Chris Latham are both up for the full back spot while Wendell Sailor, Joe Roff and Lote Tuqiri are vying for the two wing places.