Eurosport.co.uk continues its preview of the World Cup with a look at European minnows Georgia, who have been drawn in Pool D - the 'group of death'.

GEORGIA

Pool D: (France, Ireland, Argentina, Namibia)

World Ranking: 17

Coach: Cheishvili Malkhaz

Key players: Ilia Zedginidze, Pavle Jimsheladze

Nicknamed the Lelos, Georgia qualified for their second consecutive World Cup with a two-leg victory over Portugal.

A 17-3 win in Tbilisi followed by an 11-11 draw in Lisbon secured them the third automatic European qualifying spot and left Portugal needing to qualify through the repechage.

Reaching the World Cup for the second time was an admirable achievement for a country with such limited playing resources. There are only 36 rugby clubs in Georgia, running a total of 87 teams with less than 600 senior players.

Although they failed to win any games at their World Cup debut in 2003, they improved as the tournament went on and produced a respectable performance in a 46-19 loss to South Africa before going down 24-12 in their crucial group match with Uruguay.

This year they have been drawn in the group of death' and will not be expected to trouble France, Ireland or Argentina too much.

Coach Cheishvili Malkhaz will therefore be targeting the clash with Namibia in Lens on September 26 as crucial. It is fair to say that their whole World Cup will hinge on this game.

A 37-strong squad completed a three-week conditioning camp in Tbilisi in July and in August play warm-up games with Auch, Agen, Albigeois and Fiji in a bid to give their players as much exposure as possible to top-class rugby.

The final 30-man squad will spend a further 10 days at a training camp in Nimes before starting their World Cup campaign against Argentina on September 11.

Led by their try-scoring Auch lock Ilia Zedginidze 14 tries in 46 international games Georgia may lack the speed and subtlety of the top teams in France, but their pack will certainly front up at the World Cup and will not go down without a fight.

World Cup record

1987: N/A

1991: Did not qualify

1995: Did not qualify

1999: Did not qualify

2003: No wins

Terence O'Rorke / Eurosport