Australia's head coach, John Connolly, yesterday appointed Stirling Mortlock as his World Cup captain, eight months after coming under pressure to relieve the centre of the leadership following a breach of discipline on tour in Italy.

Mortlock broke a late-night curfew in Rome and had a strong exchange of words with the assistant coach, Scott Johnson.

Members of the management team urged Connolly to not only strip Mortlock of the captaincy but also drop him. But Connolly stood firm and was rewarded with strong performances from Mortlock in the recent Tri-Nations, the centre's runs taking them to a surprise victory over New Zealand in Melbourne.

"Stirling deserves a lot of credit for the effort he has put in," said Connolly, who named two vice-captains for France, the scrumhalf George Gregan and the flanker Phil Waugh.

"When Stirling was made co-captain with Phil at the start of the year, he was left under no illusions that he had a lot of work to do. He has led by example and was inspirational again against the All Blacks on Saturday (when the Wallabies lost 26-12)."

Australia will take 17 forwards and 13 backs to France. The ability of Matt Giteau to play at scrumhalf meant they needed only two specialists in that position - Gregan and Sam Cordingley.

Lote Tuqiri was picked despite being disciplined twice this year, while Berrick Barnes was a slightly surprising selection for an outhalf spot.

The squad will kick-off preparations with the first of three Australian-based training camps in Manly on July 31st, ahead of their August 23rd departure for a week-long training camp in Portugal.

The Wallabies will arrive at their World Cup training base in Montpellier on August 31st ahead of their first Pool B match, against Japan in Lyon on September 8th.

They will also face Wales, Fiji and Canada during the group stage of the tournament.

Colin Charvis will miss Wales's week-long training camp in France after he was deemed unfit to travel.

The Newport Gwent Dragons forward is suffering from vertigo, and could not join his fellow World Cup contenders on the flight to Brittany.

"Colin is suffering from viral labyrinthitis, or vertigo, which causes imbalance and nausea, making him too unwell to travel with us on Saturday," said Wales coach Gareth Jenkins.

"Initially, we thought Colin would join us for the remainder of the week, but he is still unable to fly at this stage so we felt it was more important that he makes a full recovery in order to resume full training on our return from France.

"Other than Colin, everyone has taken an active part in training. Ian Evans, Rhys Thomas and Gavin Henson, who are recovering from injury, have taken a full, active part in training, with Shane Williams resuming all training except contact work.

"Jamie Robinson suffered a minor ankle-ligament strain yesterday, and he has been resting today."

Wales are based at their World Cup training centre near La Baule ahead of facing England in a tournament warm-up Test at Twickenham on Saturday week.

"It is great to have this week to concentrate on rugby training after a period of conditioning," said Jenkins. "The focus is on contact work and on preparation for the England match."

AUSTRALIA SQUAD: Backs -Chris Latham, Julian Huxley, Lote Tuqiri, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Drew Mitchell, Mark Gerrard, Stirling Mortlock (capt), Scott Staniforth, Matt Giteau, Berrick Barnes, Stephen Larkham, George Gregan, Sam Cordingley. Forwards -Wycliff Palu, David Lyons, Stephen Hoiles, George Smith, Phil Waugh, Rocky Elsom, Hugh McMeniman, Dan Vickerman, Nathan Sharpe, Mark Chisholm, Guy Shepherdson, Al Baxter, Matt Dunning, Greg Holmes, Stephen Moore, Adam Freier, Sean Hardman.

SOUTH AFRICA SQUAD: Backs -Jean de Villiers, Fourie du Preez, Jaque Fourie, Bryan Habana, Butch James, Ricky Januarie, Percy Montgomery, Akona Ndungane, Wynand Olivier, Ruan Pienaar, JP Pietersen, Andre Pretorius, Francois Steyn, Ashwin Willemse. Forwards - Bakkies Botha, BJ Botha, Gary Botha, Schalk Burger, Os du Randt, Victor Matfield, Johann Muller, Danie Rossouw, Bob Skinstad, John Smit (capt), Juan Smith, Pierre Spies, Gurthro Steenkamp, Albert van den Berg, CJ van der Linde, Wikus van Heerden.