Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan has received the ultimate boost with the news that Brian O'Driscoll could be fit for his side's opening World Cup game against Namibia.

O'Driscoll was initially ruled out for Sunday's match due to a fractured sinus, sustained during the warm-up fixture against French club side Bayonne.

But it seems the Irish captain is recovering ahead of schedule and O'Sullivan may yet have a full-strength backline to choose from, bar the recovering Shane Horgan.

"We'll need to get a medical call on Brian playing on Sunday before we finally sign off on it, but at the moment he's ahead of schedule. It's become a possibility more than anything else," he said, speaking to the IRU website.

"Brian being back this early is a huge boost. His injury could have been a lot worse but it wasn't.

"Once we got the good news that he was going to be out for a few weeks, it was just about trying to beat that deadline then. And to be fair, he's worked very hard on his fitness and on his rugby without going into contact.

O'Sullivan also had further reason for cheer as flank David Wallace's troublesome ankle injury seems to have subsided.

"I wasn't worried about David because for the last three weeks he could have trained or being involved more than he has been. But there was a risk in that, had he another setback in his ankle, he could have missed the start of the World Cup," he added.

Meanwhile, Malcolm O'Kelly reckons Pool minnows Namibia and Georgia will try to put the heat on Ireland up front when they take on the Irish in Bordeaux over the next two weekends.

The Leinster lock, Ireland's most-capped player with 87 appearances to date, has experience of facing both nations previously, with outings against Georgia in 1998 and 2002 and a start against the Namibians at the 2003 World Cup in Australia.

"I've played Namibia and Georgia a good few times before," he said.

"The Namibians four years ago in the World Cup, they provided us with an aggressive game, they were certainly up for it and won't leave anything behind this weekend. Maybe what they lacked tactically back then, they will have gained this time around.

"The same with the Georgians. They'll be mad up for it, taking us on up front. The last two games we didn't go well up front and we'll be looking to dominate there."

Sporting Life / Eurosport