Kirwan - taking a gamble. (Getty Images)

By Alex Lowe, PA Sport, Canberra

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Italy coach John Kirwan has thrown caution to the wind by naming injury doubts Alessandro Troncon and Andrea Masi in the Azzurri side for Saturday's World Cup showdown with Wales.

Both players have been struggling to regain fitness after sustaining knocks in Tuesday's bruising victory over Canada.

While Manuel Dallan did not make the side, his knee injury still needing three more days recovery time, Kirwan included skipper Troncon despite rating him only 80% fit.

He also opted against naming an understudy scrum-half as cover for the experienced Troncon, risking a flare-up of his shoulder or back injury in the cauldron of arguably Italy's biggest ever Test match.

But given how much is at stake, Kirwan declared this was not the time to be conservative.

"On Saturday we are playing for keeps, so there is no use being conservative," he said.

"We need to take some risks. There is no Sunday for us, so we have just got to go out and not think about anything else but performing for the 80 minutes. We can reassess after that."

With few expecting Wales to beat New Zealand next weekend, the Pool D clash in Canberra is effectively a play-off for a World Cup quarter-final spot.

It is a stage Italy have never reached before and interest in the Azzurri's campaign is growing back home by the day, with the lunchtime news bulletins leading on their progress Down Under.

Kirwan insisted the risk to play Troncon was necessary given how important the captain is to the way Italy perform.

"In captaincy you look for a special type of person. He can come in many different ways - talkers, leaders by action - and Tronky is one of those who will lead from the front," said Kirwan.

"He is one of those guys that the boys will follow, so he is pretty fundamental for us."

As expected, Dallan failed to make a full recovery and is a victim of the World Cup draw that required Italy to play two games in four days.

"We had our training run on Friday and unfortunately Manuel Dallan hasn't had enough days to recover," said Kirwan.

"He has a knee problem that needs three to four more days to get the swelling down. That's very unfortunate."

Kirwan has spent all week trying to keep his players calm, promoting the idea of the game as a "party" and the chance for Italy to have fun and not stress out over the result.

There are obvious distractions for Kirwan, with hooker Fabio Ongaro - the only change to the provisional squad released on Thursday - on two yellow cards and one away from a possible suspension.

Then there has been Italy's build-up, or lack of it, which has restricted them to a walk-through and the captain's run at the ground.

But Kirwan believes his side respond best in the face of adversity.

"For us I feel the pressure is positive and will help us enjoy ourselves to play better," he said.

"I think Wales feel it more. They would have to be going in as favourites. Some of their players are only playing their second game.

"I think we should chuck all the other World Cup games out of the window. I think Saturday is going to be a special day and both teams will need to be at their best.

"If we play to the best of our ability I think it's going to be close. If we play the best we can play I think we can win it.

"All I am concerned about is our performance because I am convinced we can be there or thereabouts."