England will face Georgia in their first game of the 2003 World Cup after the eastern Europeans qualified for the finals on Sunday.

A Levan Tsabadze try and four penalties from the boot of Malkhaz Urjukashvili was enough to secure qualification to Pool C, which also includes, South Africa, Samoa and Uruguay.

England will open their campaign in Perth in almost exactly a year's time, just six days before the crunch group clash against South Africa.

But coach Clive Woodward promised his thoughts would not stray beyond Georgia.

He said: "I'm delight that Georgia have qualified for our group. They have qualified on merit and we will give them the respect that they deserve."

Earlier on Sunday, Namibia edged into the finals after beating Tunisia on tries scored over their two-leg play-off.

Namibia lost 24-17 away to the north Africans at the Stade El Menzahin on Saturday after winning the first match by seven points.

They will join Australia, Argentina, Ireland and Romania in pool A at next year's tournament in Australia.

Tunisia now go through to the repechage and will meet the winner of Spain v Russia.

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England's World Cup 2003 schedule:

Oct 12: Georgia in Perth; Oct 18: South Africa in Perth; Oct 26: Samoa in Melbourne; Nov 2: Uruguay in Brisbane.