The entire Australia Rugby Union squad will be flying out from Sydney on Saturday for their four-Test tour of Europe after being given assurances about the heightened security measures which will be in place for their trip.

Conscious of the fact that the wives and girlfriends of Australian rugby league players were a major factor behind the decision last week to call off the Kangaroos' tour of Britain, the Australian Rugby Union's high-performance manager Jeff Miller addressed a meeting of the 30-strong squad's partners at the Wallabies' training camp this week.

"I assured them that nothing was being left to chance on the security front and that there was no reason for them to be concerned about the safety of the players," said Miller.

"I also spoke to the players themselves and after they had been provided with the information which showed just how much security would be tightened they responded positively and the tour should now proceed without any problems."

Australia's captain George Gregan said that all the players chosen in the squad for the tour, which will include Tests against Spain, England, France and Wales, would be going.

While there is unanimity among the Australia squad, their New Zealand counterparts, who are due to play Ireland and Scotland next month, have greater reservations about flying to Europe.

The All Blacks are not due to name their squad until November 3rd, four days before they leave Auckland, and 500 players have been asked to confirm availability.

Jonah Lomu is set to sign a new contract with the All Blacks in the next 24 hours. Lomu has already declared he will travel. Next month's Dubai Sevens, though, may be called off today.

Meanwhile, Wales yesterday called in sports psychologist Graham Jones to help their players come to terms with the 36-6 defeat against Ireland.