The Italians arrived in Dunedin yesterday and spent the rest of the day recovering from a physical match against the United States in Nelson on Tuesday night.
Ireland trained at Carisbrook yesterday morning and reported no injuries as it readied itself for its winner-takes-all match against Italy on Sunday at Otago Stadium.
Irish defence coach Les Kiss said the Italians obviously rated their scrum and would be putting everything on the line in Sunday's game.
"The scrum is a very important part of the game. There is no doubt about that. But we have got other parts to our game that we will bring as well. There has been a lot of discussion about that [scrum] and that doesn't surprise us," Kiss said.
"We have done a fair bit of analysis on Italy. Last night was the final piece, I think, of putting it all together and presenting it to the players on the training paddock today.
"We have done our analysis on it. As they would have. There is a lot riding on it. It is a winner-takes-all game."
Kiss, a former Australian rugby league representative, was happy to report the side was carrying no serious injuries and had the advantage of having an extra couple of days off, compared to its opponent.
Ireland has won the last 15 games against the Italians, although it was a close-run thing in February in Rome, when the Irish won 13-11, thanks to a late Ronan O'Gara dropped goal.
Ireland struggled up front at times against Italy in that game, but, as Kiss said, it won the game.
"The scrum is one part of it and a pressure point for both sides. It is just one point of the game, and we did enough to win the game. We have got other parts of the games which we can throw at them."
Irish fullback Geordan Murphy said since the Italians lost to the Australians in the opening weekend this has been the game they have been targeting.
"They have improved massively, a very physical side, and some of the tries they have scored in the World Cup have been good tries, and [they have] played some good football."
Murphy said Ireland was not getting ahead of itself and would not be looking at the quarterfinals until next week.
Murphy plays at the Leicester club with Italian prop Martin Castrogiovanni, and they own an Italian restaurant in the city.
Castrogiovanni, who was once rated the best tighthead prop in the world, was sending messages to Murphy and they were becoming more regular as the game neared.
"He is a good mate of mine, very passionate about his rugby.
The guy is a different character off the field than on it."
The Irish have a quiet day today, while the Italians are to have an open training session at the Caledonian Ground from 4pm.