Ireland head coach Adam Griggs hailed "outrageous" wing Beibhinn Parsons after the teenager inspired her side's World Cup qualifying win over Italy.

Italy remain top of the qualifying pool on five points, ahead of Ireland on points difference.

"She's outrageous I think at times," Griggs told RTE.

"The beauty of her collecting that ball at the back, having time and space to pick out players, that she was able to use her feet, bouncing off, getting into space quickly with that acceleration she has.

"Again, the pleasing aspect for me of that try is that once she was brought to ground we recycled the ball quickly, and I spoke about it during the week, having trust in the backs to execute."

Victory in Parma boosted Ireland's hopes of securing qualification to the finals in New Zealand. Only the winner of the four-team tournament is guaranteed passage, with the runners-up entering the final qualification tournament.

Scotland's 27-22 win over Spain on Sunday evening leaves all four teams on five points from two games, with everything to play for in the final round of games on Saturday.

However, Griggs admitted that his side must work on their set-pieces ahead of their crunch game against Scotland.

"I think that's probably the one major work-on that we still need to get right," he added.

"Our scrum was hugely improved and we got some really good front foot ball off that, but absolutely we've got to be smarter at calling them, and you find a lot of those lineouts that we did end up losing we were going up against their main jumpers.

"In a lineout they're going to give you space somewhere, whether it's at the front or the back, and you've got to be clever to see that space and call it so you can put the ball there, and I think when we did get the lineout right the call was spot on, the lifts were good and the throw was good."

With their confidence dented from the shock defeat by Spain, Ireland started the game in sluggish fashion, conceding three penalties from four scrums inside the opening 20 minutes.

However, they dug deep to put the Italians under pressure and had the chance to put their first points on the board with a 23rd-minute penalty, only for Stacey Flood's kick to strike the post.

Six minutes later, Flood was involved once more when the out-half collected the ball from Kathryn Dane after an Irish maul had collapsed and passed to Parsons, who touched down in the corner.

That try appeared to spark Italy into life but the Irish defence was resolute in the face of rising Azzurre pressure with Ciara Griffin and Cliodhna Moloney making crucial tackles before Flood stormed out of defence with a clever sidestep to drive Ireland up the pitch and keep their lead intact at the break.

Ireland's frustrations were compounded when, six minutes after the restart, Eimear Considine was yellow carded for a high tackle.

Italy duly capitalised on their numerical advantage when Beatrice Rigoni rampaged clear down the left wing before touching down in the corner. Michela Sillari's conversion gave the Italians the edge with just under half an hour remaining.

The Irish kept their composure, however, and got their noses back in front thanks to Flood's penalty after Rigoni's yellow card for a deliberate knock on.

Parsons was the inspiration for Ireland's second try as the winger tore through the Italian defence to spring an attack that culminated in Murphy-Crowe crossing the line to hand momentum back to the visitors.

While it was far from a vintage Ireland performance, Griggs' side did enough to breathe new life into their quest for World Cup qualification and will hope to use their new-found momentum to beat Scotland in their final qualifier on Saturday.

Ireland: E Considine; AL Murphy Crowe, E Higgins, S Naoupu, B Parsons; S Flood, K Dane; L Feely, C Moloney, L Djougang, N Fryday, S Monaghan; D Wall, E McMahon, C Griffin.

Replacements: N Jones, L Peat, L Lyons, B Hogan, C Molloy, E Lane, E Breen, L Delany.