NELSON, NZ - Italy coach Nick Mallett was relieved to see his side sweep past Russia 53-17 to leave them on course for a Pool C showdown with Ireland.

The Azzurri ran in nine tries, including two apiece for Tommaso Benvenuti and Giulio Toniolatti, to secure a bonus point in a pool thrown wide open by Australia’s defeat against the Irish.

"This was a nervous game for us because we needed to get five points from this game to make sure we go into that Irish game (on 2 October) with a good shout,” Mallett said.

Before Tuesday’s match at Trafalgar Park, Italy were bottom of Pool C after the defeat by Australia in their opening game.

"We have been here for 20 days and only played that one game against Australia, which was a tough game for us to start off with,” Mallett said.

Italy secured their bonus point after just 23 minutes as Russia were overcome by slick passing and a towering performance by captain Sergio Parisse.

The number 8 had a hand in four of his side’s six first-half tries as they raced to a 38-7 lead at the interval.

Russia stuck to their task to finish with three tries, with second-half scores from Vladimir Ostroushko and Alexey Makovetskiy complementing Alexander Yanyushkin’s first-half score.

Benvenuti completed his brace eight minutes into the second half, touching down his own chip ahead.

Luke McLean took advantage of a marking mismatch, going past Alexander Voytov in the 64th minute then racing away for a try, and Alessandro Zanni’s score brought up the half-century on 77 minutes.

The score could have been greater but Italian kickers Riccardo Bocchino and Benvenuti missed five conversion attempts between them.

Parisse opened the scoring in the sixth minute when he sold a neat dummy then cut through the line, and his deft touch was instrumental in wing Toniolatti's 14th-minute try.

Centre Benvenuti profited from a Russian defensive mix-up to plunge over, then Parisse dummied to set up Toniolatti’s second and bring up the bonus point.

A strong scrummage forced Russia to concede a penalty try, before The Bears finally got on the scoresheet with Italy reduced to 14 men after Fabio Ongaro was sin-binned for an illegal tackle.

Yanyushkin’s score was converted by Konstantin Rachkov but Italy scrum half Edoardo Gori hit back just before the break.

Italy 53
Tries: Parisse, Toniolatti 2, Benvenuti 2, Penalty Try, Gori, McLean, Zanni
Convs: Bocchino 4

Russia 17
Tries: Yanyushkin, Ostroushko, Makovetskiy
Convs: Rachkov

Pool C Standings

Australia isn’t taking the USA likely, especially now as they are right in the middle of a physical World Cup, and have lost to Ireland.

Coaching coordinator David Nucifora said the video analysis of the Ireland came wasn’t pleasant.

"It's not pretty viewing,” Nucifora said. “It's not the most enjoyable part of the job for the players or the coaches to review those sorts of performances, but you get a lot out of it and that's important."

But the lessons were clear – play better, especially with the USA coming into Wellington with nothing to lose.

Nucifora said he expects plenty of commitment from the Eagles.

" I thing they've shown that already; physical commitment,” he said. “They'll throw everything into us, into this match. They've done that in their first two games and we expect nothing less from them. It'll be a tough game."

It’s been tough enough already, and the Wallaby players are somewhat dinged up.

"At this point we expect everyone bar Digby (Ioane) to be available for selection on Friday night,” said Nucifora. “Obviously the only other one there is David Pocock, to see how he comes along and improves over the next day or two (sore back).”

Ioane isn’t too thrilled at having to miss the game with a broken thumb, but he has to think long-term.

"Probably some time this week I'll be taking off the cast and it all depends on my rehab,” the wing said. “Fingers crossed, hopefully I'll make it for the quarters if we get there. I'm a big believer in things happening for a reason. I've been through this situation before, so there's no need to be down about it. I've just got to get fit and come back stronger."