In the meantime, Australian rugby fans can take comfort from the fact that while their national team lost in the World Cup Final, the event as a whole generated "significant economic activity and revenue".

BBC: NEWS | Business | World Cup lifts Australia economy

It is the final qualifying event before Dale Reid announces her 2002 Solheim Cup team.

BBC: Reid in Solheim dilemma

"If I refused to go to Lome it was first for my team-mates, as you don't organise such an event just two days before a quarter-final, " the Chelsea forward said.

BBC: CHOOSE A SPORT

The first two Irish finishers at the Dunleer event will also earn places in Switzerland while the selectors will add the final two names to the team.

BBC: Ryan set for World Indoors

Having been pipped to the all-around title (which takes into account performances on all four pieces of apparatus) by team-mate Nastia Liukin, Johnson exacted revenge on the balance beam, the final women's gymnastics event of the Beijing Games.

BBC: US gymnast Shawn Johnson seeks focus to succeed in 2012