( CNN ) -- Ireland reached the quarterfinals of the rugby World Cup Sunday with an emphatic 36-6 victory over Italy at the Otago Stadium . Ireland topped Pool C ahead of second-placed Australia , and now play Wales in the knockout phase in Wellington next Saturday . They were 12-6 up as the second half began but put the game out of reach for Italy with two tries . Captain Brian O'Driscoll scored in the 47th minute after taking a well-timed pass from Tommy Bowe . Four minutes later left-wing Keith Earls marked his birthday by finishing a sweeping move with a try in the far corner after good work by center Gordon D'Arcy and blindside flanker Stephen Ferris . Ronan O'Gara , who landed six out of seven placekicks for a match haul of 16 points before being replaced by rival fly-half Jonathan Sexton , a less reliable goalkicker , duly landed the conversion . Ireland 's traveling support virtually turned the match into a home game with most of the stadium bathed in green . Before the match Italy coach Nick Mallett had claimed his team boasted a better front row and would prove it . All Black star Carter ruled out of World Cup . But that dominance failed to materialize and neither side ever took full control . Earlier , Wales were in superb form as they thrashed Fiji 66-0 tn Hamilton . Jamie Roberts with two tries , Scott Williams , George North , Sam Warburton , Lloyd Burns , Leigh Halfpenny , Lloyd Williams and Jonathan Davies crossed in the rout . Hosts New Zealand also shrugged off the loss of star fly half Dan Carter to round off their Pool A campaign with a 75-19 victory over Canada . They ran in 12 tries with Zac Guildford leading the way with four . Colin Slade , the replacement for Carter , kicked four conversions and a penalty . The All Blacks will play Argentina in the quarterfinals next Sunday after the Pumas confirmed their qualification for the knockout stages ahead of Scotland with a 25-7 win over Georgia .
Ireland reach quarter-finals of rugby World Cup with emphatic 36-6 victory over Italy . Ireland top Pool C ahead of second-placed Australia , and now play Wales . Italy 's coach had claimed his team boasted a better front row and would prove it . Hosts New Zealand shrug off loss of Dan Cartter to thrash Canada 75-19 .