As the tournament now approaches the penultimate round of matches, certain sides are starting to prepare themselves for some must-win, tournament-defining fixtures already - and Italy's is right here against Ireland. Jacques Brunel's side have to emerge victorious on Sunday to keep their World Cup hopes alive and they couldn't have a harder task on their hands as they come across Six Nations champions Ireland at the Olympic Stadium.

Team news

Robbie Henshaw is finally set to make his World Cup debut at inside centre having proven his fitness after recovering from a hamstring strain. However, the same can't be said about Jared Payne and Rob Kearney. Despite the latter showing up fully fit on Thursday, Joe Schmidt has decided not to risk either and both will sit out. Keith Earls moves from left wing to replace Payne at outside centre while Tommy Bowe retains his position on the right flank after his impressive two tries against Romania.

Italy received a boost with captain Sergio Parisse given the all clear to play after sitting out both games thus far due to a calf haematoma. However, Leicester Tigers front-rower Martin Castrogiovanni is out due to a thigh injury - replaced by Lorenzo Cittadini - while Simone Favaro replaces the injured Robert Barbieri at open-side flanker.

Sergio Parisse trains with Italy© GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images

Ireland:

Simon Zebo, Tommy Bowe, Keith Earls, Robbie Henshaw, Dave Kearney, Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray, Jack McGrath, Rory Best, Mike Ross; Iain Henderson, Paul O'Connell; Peter O'Mahony, Sean O'Brien, Jamie Heaslip.

Replacements: Sean Cronin, Cian Healy, Nathan White, Devin Toner, Chris Henry, Eoin Reddan, Ian Madigan, Luke Fitzgerald.

Italy:

Luke McLean, Leonardo Sarto, Michele Capagnaro, Gonzalo Garcia, Giovanbattista Venditti; Tommaso Allan, Edoardo Gori; Matias Aguero, Andrea Manici, Lorenzo Cittadini, Ouintin Geldenhuys, Josh Furno, Francesco Minto, Simone Favaro, Sergio Parisse.

Replacements: Davide Giazzon, Michele Rizzo, Dario Chistolini, Alessandro Zanni, Mauro Bergamasco, Guglielmo Palazzani, Carlo Canna, Tommaso Benvenuti.

Key head-to-head

Italy conceded an astounding 18 penalties against France in their opening fixture, and while they improved against Canada conceding just nine, the discipline of the pack is still an issue, especially as they now come up against the toughest set of forwards yet. Joe Schmidt's side won all eight of their scrums against Canada, and all five against Romania, while Italy won just three of their eight scrums against France. The battle between the forwards will be where this game is won or lost.

Key stats

* Ireland and Italy have met once before in a World Cup, back on the exact same date of October 4 in 2011. Ireland won 36-6 with Leonardo Ghiraldini picking up a 15-week ban for an eye gouge on Cian Healy.

* Ireland have beaten Italy 20 times in 24 meetings.

* In their two most recent encounters, Ireland have scored 72 points opposed to just 10 from Italy.

Odds

Unibet have Ireland at 1/25 to win but if you still fancy an underdog you can back Italy at 21/2. Better value is found elsewhere with the first scoring play coming as an Irish try priced at 5/2.

You can get odds of 7/5 on the first scoring play to be an Irish penalty too, and after Italy's record of 27 conceded penalties in two games so far, and along Johnny Sexton's laser-like kicking now back in the Irish side after a rest against Romania, this could be worth a go.

Weather

Much like the rest of the tournament, the temperature will be in the region of 15 degrees Celsius, with the possibility of it rising to 17 by 4pm. It's set to be mainly cloudy with the odd outbreak of sunshine throughout the day. Little chance of rain and very minimal wind.

Prediction

It's really hard to see Italy come away with anything here. A French side that is yet to fire on all cylinders, despite their 100 percent record, ripped into the Azzurri before minnows Canada also pushed them. While Parisse's return will restore some stability, Ireland have been impressive so far. The game will likely be tight, however, Schmidt's side will still be too strong for Brunel's team. Ireland by 15 points.