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Sergio Parisse confirms when he will finally bid 'arrivederci' to rugby union
By Paul Smith
Italy star Sergio Parisse has confirmed he will retire at the end of the season.
And after twice being denied a farewell test match appearance, the world’s third most-capped player remains hopeful he will be permitted a swansong in the Azzurri jersey.
The Toulon no.8, who has won 142 caps, has been a stalwart of the international game since 2002 during which time he has featured in an incredible 69 Six Nations matches.
Parisse, who spent much of his club career with Stade Francais, was due to retire from international rugby after the 2019 World Cup but changed his mind when Italy’s final group game against the All Blacks was cancelled due to an incoming typhoon.
The coronavirus pandemic then put paid to a second scheduled farewell test appearance against England in the 2020 Guinness Six Nations leaving him behind only Wales’ Alun Wyn Jones and New Zealand’s Richie McCaw on the all-time list.
“It would be a nice ending to be able to play again in front of the Italian public but it is not an obsession,” he said.
“I am in contact with the new president and the new coach. There is also a desire on the part of the Italian leadership to give me the chance to make one last match.
“But I never liked, in my professional career, to have gifts. I could have continued with Italy and had 150 caps instead of 142 but it is not what I want. Records don’t interest me.”
The 38-year-old works with Toulon’s academy players and also coaches the lineout, meaning he has no hesitation in hanging up his boots come the end of the current Top 14 campaign.
“It’s certain because you mustn’t push things too far, especially at the physical level because mentally, I feel very fresh,” he said.
“Everyone knows their body and knows what they are capable of doing. I knew I had the mental and physical strength to make a final season. It was also a discussion with the club.
“At 38, there are questions that arise. With the club, we all agreed that it was a good decision. Now it’s up to me to have fun with every game.”
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Like I've said before about your idea (actually it might have been something to do with mine, I can't remember), I like that teams will a small sustainable league focus can gain the reward of more consistent CC involvement. I'd really like the most consistent option available.
Thing is, I think rugby can do better than footballs version. I think for instance I wanted everyone in it to think they can win it, where you're talking about the worst teams not giving up because they are so far off the pace we get really bad scoreline when that and giving up to concentrate on the league is happening together.
So I really like that you could have a way to remedy that, but personally I would want my model to not need that crutch. Some of this is the same problem that football has. I really like the landscape in both the URC and Prem, but Ireland with Leinster specifically, and France, are a problem IMO. In football this has turned CL pool stages in to simply cash cow fixtures for the also ran countries teams who just want to have a Real Madrid or ManC to lose to in their pool for that bumper revenue hit. It's always been a comp that had suffered for real interest until the knockouts as well (they might have changed it in recent years?).
You've got some great principles but I'm not sure it's going to deliver on that hard hitting impact right from the start without the best teams playing in it. I think you might need to think about the most minimal requirement/way/performance, a team needs to execute to stay in the Champions Cup as I was having some thougt about that earlier and had some theory I can't remember. First they could get entry by being a losing quarter finalist in the challenge, then putting all their eggs in the Champions pool play bucket in order to never finish last in their pool, all the while showing the same indifference to their league some show to EPCR rugby now, just to remain in champions. You extrapolate that out and is there ever likely to be more change to the champions cup that the bottom four sides rotate out each year for the 4 challenge teams? Are the leagues ever likely to have the sort of 'flux' required to see some variation? Even a good one like Englands.
I'd love to have a table at hand were you can see all the outcomes, and know how likely any of your top 12 teams are going break into Champions rubyg on th back it it are?
Go to commentsYou always get idiots who go overboard. What else is new? I ignore them. Why bother?
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