CANBERRA, Oct 21: Italy withstood a fierce late rally to beat Canada 19-14 and set up a shoot-out with Wales for a Rugby World Cup quarterfinal berth here Tuesday.

The Italians were clinging on in the final minutes of a nerve-wracking Pool D game after hooker Fabio Ongaro was sent to the sin-bin, but they weathered the Canadian storm to secure a historic victory.

The win at a rain-soaked Canberra Stadium marked the first time in Italy’s history that they have won two matches at a World Cup, following on from a victory over Tonga last week after an earlier thrashing by New Zealand.

The Italians now face Wales - who they beat in this year’s Six Nations - on Saturday, knowing that victory will send them into the quarterfinals of the tournament for the first time.

Despite enjoying a wealth of possession and territorial dominance early on, Italy ended the first half only three points clear at 9-6 courtesy of three penalties by Rima Wakarua in response to two from opposite number Jared Barker.

The match turned in a decisive period midway through the second half, when Italy scored twice following the sin-binning of Canada centre Marco di Girolamo for killing the ball.

New Zealand-born flyhalf Rima Wakarua popped over a simple penalty for di Girolamo’s offence to put the Italians 12-9 up, and soon afterwards the Azzurri made their extra man count again.

Scrum-half Matteo Mazzantini, who had replaced skipper Troncon at half-time, pinched possession from a Canada scrum and number eight Sergio Parisse picked up and bulldozed his way over for the try.

Wakarua’s conversion made it 19-9 but Canada came back strongly when a blunder from Italy fullback Gonzalo Canale gifted them a scrum deep in enemy territory.

From the ensuing set-piece Canada worked fullback Quentin Fyffe over in the corner for a dazzling try to make it 19-14.—Reuters