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Video: Parisse gives his verdict on Ireland and England
By Nathaniel Cope
Italy captain Sergio Parisse is well placed to compare the two leading contenders for the Natwest 6 Nations - Ireland and England.
Parisse was speaking after Ireland beat the Italians 56-19 in Dublin, just six days after Italy lost 46-15 to Eddie Jones' side in Rome.
And the Stade Francais man had some interesting observations.
"I think that Ireland play much better rugby for me, it is much more difficult to defend. Of course England is a great side, but for me personally after these two weeks it was much more difficult against Ireland. I like the way that they play, for me they play very good rugby. I think they play better than England."
The were comments welcomed by Ireland captain Rory Best.
"I think it is always nice when you get a compliment from an opposition captain. But we'll look at this game and we'll see. There are a lot of things we can do a lot better, especially in the second half. There are things that we will be pleased with. It is a nice compliment from class player, but ultimately we'll judge ourselves in how we go. In terms of comparisons with England, that is a long way away for us. We are focused on recovering from this and looking forward to the game in two weeks (against Wales)."
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Latest Comments
Disagree.
The challenge for the All Blacks now that they have 7 of 8 starting forwards locked in and all but one bench forward (only one loose forward and bench loosie to settle on) is to sort out the starting backline as only 9 Roigard, 12 J. Barrett, 11 Clarke and 15 Jordan had good to outstanding seasons in 2024. All the other backs were inconsistent or poor and question marks going into 2025.
Go to commentshe should not be playing 12. He should be playing 10 and team managers should stop playing players out of position to accommodate libbok.
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