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A typhoon and a pandemic haven't stopped Sergio Parisse hoping for a fond Test farewell
By Online Editors
Sergio Parisse is still hoping to get the chance to say farewell in an Italy jersey despite last year’s typhoon in Japan being followed by the coronavirus outbreak. The 36-year-old was initially due to draw a line under his stellar Test career with an appearance versus New Zealand at the World Cup.
However, a typhoon led to the cancellation of that pool fixture against the All Blacks last October in Toyota. It was then arranged that he would be part of the Italian squad for their March home match versus England in Rome only for the virus pandemic to cause the postponement of that Guinness Six Nations fixture.
However, amid plans to extend his current club contract at Toulon, Parisse has revealed he still wants to eventually get his opportunity to properly wave goodbye at Test level.
Speaking in an interview with planetrugby.com, Parisse said: “The contract with Toulon ends in June and I have another optional year. My body was able to regenerate a bit with the forced break imposed by the Covid-19, but I’m disappointed not to have had the chance to say goodbye to Rome during the match against England in the Six Nations.
“If there is one thing I can confirm, it is that yes, I would like to have a last opportunity with Italy to thank the world of rugby which made my career possible and to say goodbye with passion and respect. To sum up, I want one last dance in the blue jersey.”
It’s believed that Italy’s match versus England could be played on October 31, the weekend before the traditional glut of November internationals kick off.
Parisse joined Toulon last summer after 14 seasons at Stade Francais, going on start seven times in a Top 14 season that was terminated after 17 of the scheduled 26 rounds of fixtures.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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