LONDON: Ireland qualified for the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals by squeezing past Italy 16-9 in a tight test Sunday that ensured the Italians will miss out — again.
The victory, aptly described as “ugly” by coach Joe Schmidt, also lifted France into the last eight, and confirmed their match next weekend at Millennium Stadium as the Pool D decider.
The loser in Cardiff will likely face defending champion New Zealand in the quarterfinals.
A near full-strength Irish team racked up 94 points in its first two matches. In the Six Nations, they won 26-3 in Rome, and were expected to dispatch an Italy side which fired only in spurts at the World Cup in a loss to France and narrow win over Canada.
“I said (last week) I’d take a one-point win, though I’d rather not,” Ireland coach Joe Schmidt said. “Even a one-score game is pretty tough on the heart.”
“Sometimes you have to win ugly against pretty good teams,” Schmidt added. “Maybe we were lulled into a false sense of security in the last couple of weeks. Sometimes it’s not your day, and in that context we are delighted to get the result.”
The Italy squad, equally desperate to win to stay in quarterfinals contention, was roused even more by the first appearance of fit-again No. 8 Sergio Parisse, who led by example as always. They threatened a boilover by holding possession for long periods, disrupted Ireland and, at 10-6 down in the second half, missed a try by a matter of inches.
Despite easily its best display, Italy was condemned to yet another exit in the pool stage. It has never made the last eight.
“This was a missed chance,” coach Jacques Brunel said.
Ireland quickly realised it was in for a tough afternoon at the Olympic stadium when Italy had all of the possession for the first six minutes, giving it up only in Ireland’s quarter for not releasing. Italy center Gonzalo Garcia limped off, and Ireland hit back straight away with a break and resulting penalty goal to Jonathan Sexton.
Italy went through the phases again from a lineout maul and forced a penalty to level the score.
Midway through the half, Italy had a throw-in near its tryline and Ireland lock Iain Henderson stole it at the front. No. 8 Jamie Heaslip speared off, Sexton’s ran to the line and his inside pass hit Robbie Henshaw in a gap, and center partner Keith Earls was there for the offload on the line.
Earls’ eighth World Cup try separated him from Brian O’Driscoll as Ireland’s all-time record-holder in the tournament.
Sexton converted, but Italy counterpart Tommaso Allan cut the lead to 10-6 with his second penalty.
Both captains overlooked kickable penalties from close range to go for attacking lineouts, and both failed in the face of outstanding defenses, led in the match by Italy’s Simone Favaro, and Ireland’s Henshaw.
In the second half, Italy built another attack but gave the wrong guy the overlap, lock Josh Furno. He was taken into touch in the left corner, inches from the line, by a desperate covering tackle from Irish flanker Peter O’Mahony.
Italy held the ball for the first 10 minutes for the scant reward of Allan’s third penalty.
Ireland led by only one, and the tension in the crowd of 53,187, most of them Irish, was high.
So, it came as a huge relief when two penalty kicks by Sexton in the space of four minutes for 16-9 relaxed Ireland and deflated Italy.
Parisse and Allan were immediately brought off to freshen Italy but they couldn’t sustain another attack, even while Ireland, still struggling to find a hole in Italy’s lines, played the last seven minutes down a man. O’Mahony was sin-binned for leading with his shoulder into a ruck.
It proved to be Ireland’s day, but in many ways it wasn’t. --AFP