Ireland hold on to down Italy

Cape Town - Ireland have held on to defeat Italy by 16-9 in a tense Pool D encounter at The Stadium, Queen Elizabeth Park in London.

As it happened: Ireland v Italy

Only one try was scored in the match, that coming through Irish winger Keith Earles in the 18th minute as he went past Brian O' Driscoll record to become Ireland's top try scorer at the Rugby World Cup.

It was converted by Irish flyhalf Johnny Sexton who also added a further 3 penalties.

Italy were kept in contention throughout by the accurate boot of flyhalf Tommaso Allan who landed three penalties of his own.

Scorers

Ireland

Try: Keith Earls

Penalties: Johnny Sexton (3)

Conversion: Johnny Sexton

Italy

Penalties: Tommaso Allan (3)

Teams

Ireland

15 Simon Zebo, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Peter O'Mahony, 5 Paul O'Connell (captain), 4 Iain Henderson, 3  Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Jack McGrath

Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Nathan White, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Chris Henry, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Luke Fitzgerald

Italy

15 Luke McLean, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 Michele Capagnaro, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Josh Furno, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Andrea Manici, 1 Matias Aguero

Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Alessandro Zanni, 20 Mauro Bergamasco, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Tommaso Benvenuti