Murray Kinsella reports from Rome
SERGIO PARISSE HAS been here a few times before.
He leads Italy into another international encounter this afternoon as the Azzurri host Joe Schmidt’s Ireland at Stadio Olimpico. No one deserves a home success as much as Parisse.
The number eight remains the heart and soul of Italian rugby at the age of 31, still performing at world-class levels, still the central focus of their tactics on the pitch and culture off it.
Now with a record of 108 caps, there are few signs that Parisse is slowing down. If Italy are to pull off an opening-weekend shock, we can safely wager that their graceful captain will have played an integral role.
The Stade Français man brings endless energy to his training and game involvements, but he possesses an equal strength of expression away from the pitch. Yesterday, he happily answered every question of a 20-minute press conference in both English and Italian, while he’s also fluent in French.
It takes ruthlessness to become as renowned a player as Parisse, but there is a patient, genuine and open side to the man too. He is revered at home and abroad, and respected by even the most high-profile of his peers.
“The more you look at Italy the more you see of how Sergio Parisse plays,” said Ireland captain Paul O’Connell yesterday. “There’s a kind of relentless intensity, he’s doing loads of little things, but as well as that he’s making loads of big plays.
“Some players can perform a big play and you don’t see them again for 10 minutes, Parisse seems to be able to back them up throughout the game for 80-plus minutes.
“Defensively he can pressure the nine, he can poach on the ground, make big tackles, he makes phenomenal carries, he’s a brilliant passer, he can produce incredible offloads off the ground.
And the more you look at Italy the more you see of him. He’s an incredible player, and one of the best in the world; he was a World Player of the Year and rightly so.”
Testimonials don’t come much more glowing than that, while O’Connell also emphasised how much Italy had missed the injured Parisse in Dublin last year when they succumbed to a 46-7 defeat.
As for the man himself, Parisse is appreciative of the ongoing and widespread love the rugby world has for him. However, all the Argentina-born back row wants is a strong Italy performance in this year’s championship.
“I’m really sure that in the future Italian rugby will have players with similar statistics and better statistics than me,” said Parisse. “I’m really flattered by what people have written about me, but I’m really confident Italy has the ability to compete in the Six Nations.
“Every year we must show we really deserve to play in it, otherwise we will struggle and we know the tournament is tough for everyone. It’s a new year, so we have the chance to prove we deserve to be here all over again, and that’s what we want to do.”
Parisse insists that Schmidt’s Ireland will need to hit their absolute peak in performance terms to win in Rome, underlining his confidence in his own teammates and the game plan Jacques Brunel has composed for them.
Much has been made of the fact that Italy will look to out-passion Ireland on home soil at Stadio Olimpico, but Parisse feels that is no longer sufficient.
We know it’s not enough to play with passion and energy against Ireland,” said the Italy skipper. “We have to show that we can play quality rugby as well.
“Tomorrow’s going to be crucial for us to show the Irish team that Italy is not just passion, that Italy is not just energy; it’s quality rugby as well. This is a big chance for us.
“We’ll play against a really quality team tomorrow and I’m really confident my team is ready to play a great match this weekend.”
Italy can rely on Parisse to deliver once again. The legend continues to grow.
