Joe Schmidt preparing for "pivotal week"

Joe Schmidt has said that Ireland face a "pivotal week" at the Rugby World Cup as they prepare to face Italy in their Pool D clash at the Olympic Stadium.

The Six Nations champions have cruised to comfortable wins over Romania and Canada in their first two fixtures of the tournament, but have matches against the Azzurri and France still to come.

Following the 44-10 win over Romania at Wembley, the coach told reporters: "Next week is the pivotal week. It's pressure for us and pressure for Italy. That is why people come to a World Cup, they want to see how teams respond.

"For us it starts in earnest now, because we know we can qualify if we win next weekend. The game against France just decides who we play in the quarter-finals if we can win next week.

"Italy, after a win and a loss, need to win to qualify. It becomes a last-16 game for us."

Ireland have reached the quarter-finals in six of the seven previous World Cups, but have never been beyond the last eight.