Ireland stutter past Italy in Stratford

Keith Earls scores Ireland's only try against Italy

Keith Earls scored a lone try as Ireland stuttered to a 16-9 win over Italy at the Olympic Stadium.

Earls' first-half effort, along with 11 points from the boot of Jonny Sexton, put the Irish ahead of their Six Nations rivals after a dogged fight.

The win sends Ireland to the top of Pool D, ahead of France on points difference, which means the meeting between the two sides at the Millennium Stadium on Sunday will determine who tops the pool to avoid a likely quarter-final showdown with the All Blacks.

Regardless of who Ireland face in the quarter-final, they will hope for a much more polished performance than the one that greeted the traveling Irish support in East London on Sunday.

Ireland hogged possession during the majority of the 80 minutes, but appeared unable to penetrate the Italian defence.

Paul O'Connell takes a lineout throw - an area of dominance for the Irish

Italy, led once again by the stubborn efforts of Sergio Parisse, played an expansive game with ball in hand, but did not have the skill to cross the line, and their lineout was a major downfall. The loss means they now cannot qualify for the quarter-finals.

Jonny Sexton and Tommy Allan exchanged penalties early in the half as the two sides felt each other out, and it seemed like the scores would be locked at 3-3 with the first quarter drawing to a close, before quick ball deep in the Italian half was sent to Sexton who popped an inside pass to Robbie Henshaw.

Henshaw ran the ball up to the line and delivered a soft offload to the supporting Earls, who dived over to become Ireland's top try scorer in World Cups - taking the mantle from Brian O'Driscoll watching on the sidelines.

Allan added another penalty to make it 10-6 at the break, following a rare miss from Sexton from the tee.

Sergio Parisse of Italy is tackled by Tommy Bowe - the Italian was once again inspirational for his side

Early in the second half came Italy's closest chance to scoring. The ball was sent wide to Parisse, who drew and passed to Leonardo Sarto. Sarto released the ball quickly to Josh Furno on the wing, and the second rower ran all the way to the line. Sarto would have scored if not for a brilliant chase from Peter O'Mahony, whose tackle sent the lock's feet out of play in the act of scoring.

Allan added a penalty shortly thereafter to bring the Italians to within one point of their opponents, but two penalties in quick succession from Sexton made it 16-9 at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Replacement Carlo Canna stepped up to for an attempt at goal to bring his side closer with 14 minutes to play, but the 23-year-old was short with his effort.

Italy continued to hurl themselves at the Irish and were given a glimmer of hope when Peter O'Mahony was sent to the sin bin for a dangerous challenge at a ruck, but the they were unable to crack the Irish defence, and their World Cup dream ended when Sexton sent the ball into the stands at full time.