WALES will beat Italy in their crunch World Cup group match on Saturday night and reach the quarter-finals of the tournament, forecasts Newport Gwent Dragons prop Rod Snow.

And Snow says he is returning straight to Newport after Canada's final game in the World Cup next weekend and will be available to play for the Dragons in a fortnight's time.

Snow has played against Wales and Italy in the World Cup in Australia and rates Wales as the better team.

"Wales have got stronger and better players and they're better athletes," said Snow this morning before leaving Canberra with the rest of the Canada squad.

But Snow did have a warning for Wales against the Italians. "There are a couple of areas where Wales need to beware, like the scrums where they could be in big trouble.

"Italy have got by far the strongest scrum in the group. They can give Wales a torrid time because it's a big, heavy scrum, better than New Zealand, though they are not the same athletes.

"If it becomes a battle of attrition, Italy have got every chance, so Wales have got to spread it. They have got to utilise their better backs like Iestyn Harris, Gareth Thomas and Mark Jones. They've got a pretty classy backline.

"If I can be a bit controversial, I wonder if Wales are up to it up front, but they've got the backs who are good enough to survive on scraps.

"Wales played well on the day against us and though we competed well up front, we couldn't contain their backs.

"Wales are better and need to put in a reasonable performance to get through to the quarter-finals, but I hope they've got bigger aspirations than that - they deserve better than that."

Snow says he will not be taking any rest before going straight back in with Newport Gwent Dragons - he has yet to play regional rugby.

"I don't need a couple of weeks off. I've had a good World Cup, I've enjoyed it and now we need to beat Tonga," he said.

"I expect I'll suffer abuse for not staying behind and playing in Wales, but that's why I've got broad shoulders. I still wish I was playing for Newport," added the Rodney Parade legend.

Meanwhile, Iestyn Harris says he will be devastated if Wales fail to make the quarter-finals.

"There's definitely no question, it will be a failure if we fail to reach the quarter-finals," he said.

"Spirits in the camp are high, and we're desperate to get on the field now. We've got a slight advantage after they picked up injuries last night.

"It's most important we win on Saturday because all the pressure will be off us then, but it's the biggest game so far for the players who are here. It's make or break.

"But we've got two wins under our belts which is what we wanted. I'm injury free and looking forward to every game, I haven't been involved in anything this big, it's a massive tournament.

"I'm sure Italy will be up for it, they seem to be playing mind games. They've got a big six (de Rossi) and eight (Parisse), their number 10 (Wakarua) is good and 13 (Stoica) is strong. We've got to try to nullify that.

"The Six Nations result will have no bearing on Saturday."