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Italy set up showdown with Wales
CANBERRA, Australia -- Italy edged Canada 19-14 in their World Cup pool D match on Tuesday to keep alive hopes of a quarterfinal place. After Italy had led 9-6 at half-time, number eight Sergio Parisse barged over for a try to put his team in control. But fullback Quentin Fyffe then replied for Canada with a searing run through some flimsy defence and at the end Italy were forced to defend desperately to preserve their lead. The other key to the match was kicking, with Rima Wakarua scoring four penalties and a conversion while Canadian counterpart Jared Barker missed four of his seven as Italy set up a likely World Cup showdown with Wales. "It could have gone either way," said Canadian captain Al Charron. "We didn't play enough in their end unfortunately and, when we did get down there, we had a few mistakes that cost us." The Italians, by contrast, now have a showdown with Wales on Saturday to effectively decide which team finishes second and gains a quarterfinal spot along with expected group winner New Zealand. The Italians are a point behind the Welsh so a tie is no good. "Maybe we lacked a little bit of confidence with the slippery ball. Anyway we won, that's the most important thing," said Carlo Checchinato, who wound up as Italy's third captain on the night after Alessandro Troncon and Andrea de Rossi both went off. "I've been captain against the All Blacks when we lost by many points but today we won. And we look forward to Saturday's match." The Canadians were first to score in the 11th minute when Barker landed a penalty but he missed an easy kick four minutes later. Rima Wakarua leveled it in the 23rd but he also missed a relatively easy kick in the rainy conditions. The game was littered with handling errors and needless infringements and, although both sides had some strong runs to get within sight of the tryline, the first half was basically a kicking contest between the two flyhalves. A 40-yard kick by Barker crept over in the 38th to make it 6-6 but Wakarua regained the lead a minute later with his third penalty off the last kick of the half. Italy replaced team captain Alessandro Troncon for the second half with Matteo Mazzantini. Barker's third successful penalty leveled the score again three minutes into the second half Italian No. 8 Sergio Parisse went close to scoring the first try in the 51st minute but was tackled by Morgan Williams as he was about to touch down and his legs crossed the sideline to rule out a score. A minute later the Canadians were reduced to 14 men when center Marco Di Girolamo was sent to the sinbin for repeatedly killing the ball in front of his own posts and Wakarua further punished them by kicking the points and regaining a 12-9 lead. The Canadians were still shorthanded when the Italians finally scored the first try. The Canucks mishandled from their own scrum, Mazzantini kicked ahead and Parisse powered over the line for his first international try. Wakarua's conversion stretched the lead to 19-9 with 10 of those points scored with Di Girolamo off the field. A blunder by Italian fullback Gonzalo Canale, who knocked on inside his own 22 while fielding a long kick ahead by Winston Stanley, handed the Canadians a try in the 67th minute. From their own scrum, the Canadians moved the ball left through the line and the overlapping Fyffe outpaced Canale in the other corner to slide over. Barker missed the conversion attempt but the Italian lead was cut to five points. A 22-meter penalty by Barker hit the post -- his fourth miss of the game. And the under pressure Italians were left to play the last two minutes with 14 men after hooker Fabio Ongaro was sent to the sinbin by New Zealand referee Paddy O'Brien.
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