Rima Wakarua kicked four penalties and a conversion while Canadian counterpart Jared Barker missed four of his seven as Italy scored a 19-14 victory on Tuesday to set up a likely World Cup showdown with Wales.
The two teams matched each other with one try each -- back row Sergio Parisse going over for the Italians and fullback Quentin Fyffe crossing the Italian line.
But the difference was the kickers. Flyhalf Wakarua missed just one penalty while Barker managed just three and the Canadians are now out of contention for a place in the quarterfinal with just the consolation of a bonus point for losing by less than seven.
"It could have gone either way," said Canadian captain Al Charron. "We didn't play enough in their end unfortunately and, when we did get down there, we had a few mistakes that cost us."
The Italians, by contrast, now have a showdown with Wales on Saturday to effectively decide which team finishes second and gains a quarterfinal spot along with expected group winner New Zealand. The Italians are a point behind the Welsh so a tie is no good.
"Maybe we lacked a little bit of confidence with the slippery ball. Anyway we won, that's the most important thing," said Carlo Checchinato, who wound up as Italy's third captain on the night after Alessandro Troncon and Andrea de Rossi both went off.
"I've been captain against the All Blacks when we lost by many points but today we won. And we look forward to Saturday's match."
The Canadians were first to score in the 11th minute when Barker landed a penalty but he missed an easy kick four minutes later.
Rima Wakarua leveled it in the 23rd but he also missed a relatively easy kick in the rainy conditions.
The game was littered with handling errors and needless infringements and, although both sides had some strong runs to get within sight of the tryline, the first half was basically a kicking contest between the two flyhalves.
A 40-yard kick by Barker crept over in the 38th to make it 6-6 but Wakarua regained the lead a minute later with his third penalty off the last kick of the half.
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