Sergio Francesco Parisse (; born 12 September 1983) is an Italian rugby union player. He currently plays for French club

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

and played for the Italy national team from 2002 until the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

. Parisse is Italy's most-capped player, and currently the fourth most-capped player worldwide. He was the first Italian rugby union player to be nominated for the

IRB International Player of the Year The World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year is an accolade awarded annually by World Rugby at the World Rugby Awards. The award is presented to honour "the achievements of those involved at the highest level of the world game on the field". Th ...

, in 2008 and again in 2013. Parisse is widely considered one of the greatest number eights of the modern era, and the greatest Italian rugby player of all time. He also holds the joint record of playing in five Rugby World Cups.

Early life

Parisse was born in La Plata, capital of

Province of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...

, Argentina, to Italian parents. His father, also Sergio, played for the l'Aquila club with whom he won the Italian club championship in 1967 before his job with the Alitalia airline took him to Argentina in 1970. His family spoke Italian at home and every year Sergio would go on holiday to Italy.

Career

Parisse played junior rugby divisions and his first senior division for

Club Universitario de La Plata Club Universitario de La Plata is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Plata, Buenos Aires Province. Universitario hosts the practise of a wide range of sports and activities that includes basketball, beach volleyball, bowls, fencing ...

, at La Plata city. In 2003, Parisse moved to Italy permanently to pursue a rugby career. He signed for Benetton Treviso where he played for four years before being lured to Stade Français by then president Max Guazzini in 2005. He had a long and successful career with the Parisian team, staying there for 14 seasons and winning two

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

titles. In 2019, he cut ties with the club after disagreements with the coaching team led by South African Heyneke Meyer. Although it was rumoured that he could go back to finish his career with his first professional club, Treviso, Parisse signed for Top 14 rivals

International career

Parisse was eligible to play international rugby for Argentina, the country of his birth, and Italy, the country where his parents are from. At just 17 years old, he played for Italy U20s in the Junior World Championship in Chile. There he was spotted by Argentinian selectors and approached in an attempt to persuade him to switch his allegiance to the Pumas set-up. When asked if he had any regrets on staying on with Italy, he answered “I have no regrets at all (...) it never occurred to me not to play for Italy. My parents are Italian, we were brought up speaking Italian and returned home to L’Aquila every summer. To play for Italy was a dream, to play for my culture and my family. When you pull on a jersey, it is not just a piece of clothing for the day, a convenience. Loyalty, honour and trust - these are the things that mean a lot to me" Parisse made his full Test debut for the Italy national team in June 2002, being capped at the age of 18 by then Azzurri coach John Kirwan, in a 64-10 defeat to New Zealand in Hamilton. Though Italy failed to make it beyond the pool stage of the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Parisse played well. Parisse continued his form into the 2008 Six Nations Championship. Parisse won his 50th cap for Italy against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the 2008 Six Nations Championship at the age of 24. Parisse is also the Italian captain, appointed in 2008 by

Nick Mallett Nicholas Vivian Haward Mallett (born 30 October 1956) is a former South African rugby union player who played for the Springboks, South Africa's national rugby union team, in 1984. He also coached the Springboks between 1997 and 2000 and was the ...

in place of

Marco Bortolami Marco Bortolami (; born 12 June 1980) is a rugby union coach and retired Italian international player, whose career includes experience playing in the national top-level Italian ( Petrarca Padova), French (RC Narbonne), and English (Gloucester Ru ...

. In September 2008 Parisse was nominated for

alongside

Dan Carter Daniel William Carter (born 5 March 1982) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player. Carter played for Crusaders (Super Rugby) in New Zealand and played for New Zealand's national team, the All Blacks. He is the highest point scorer in ...

Ryan Jones Ryan Paul Jones (born 13 March 1981) is a Wales former international rugby union player who played at number eight, blindside flanker or second row. He was involved in three Grand Slam wins, in 2005, as captain in 2008, and 2012. He is one ...

Shane Williams Shane Mark Williams, (born 26 February 1977) is a Welsh rugby union player most famous for his long and successful tenure as a wing for the Ospreys and the Wales national team. He also played scrum-half on occasion. Williams is the record tr ...

and

Mike Blair Michael Robert Leighton Blair (born 20 April 1981) is a Scottish rugby union coach who was formerly a professional player. He is the head coach of Edinburgh. He played at scrum-half for Glasgow Warriors, Newcastle Falcons, CA Brive and Edin ...

. Parisse missed most of the 2009–10 Top 14 season with a serious knee injury that ruled him out of the 2010 Six Nations Championship. Parisse captained

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Italy finished third in their group, one place short of qualification, after two losses against

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and

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on top of their two wins against

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and

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. Parisse scored a total of two tries at the tournament. He captained

in the 2012 Six Nations Championship. Italy had a mixed championship with losses against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

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and

but also victory against

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to avoid the wooden spoon. Parisse again captained

for the 2013 Six Nations Championship. The campaign started very well for the Italians when they beat

for only the second time ever, with Parisse himself scoring a try. The following week

lost 33–10 to

in an underwhelming performance at

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an affluent area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen and Roseburn. The A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murrayfield is often con ...

. Parisse missed Italy's match with

on 23 February 2013 due to abusing a referee in a club game with Stade Francais. Italy struggled without their captain and lost 26–9. Parisse returned for Italy's next game against

and despite England being massive favourites Italy put in a competitive display to only lose by seven points, 18–11. In the last week of the 2013 championship,

beat

for the first time ever in the championship by a margin of 22–15 making it one of Italy's most successful Six Nations ever.

Postponed Retirements

Parisse had planned to retire from international rugby after the 2019 Rugby World Cup but decided to postpone his retirement due to the cancellation of the fixture against New Zealand because of

Typhoon Hagibis Typhoon Hagibis, known in Japan as Typhoon No.19 or , was a large and costly tropical cyclone that caused widespread destruction in Japan. The thirty-eighth depression, ninth typhoon, and third super typhoon of the 2019 Pacific typhoon season, ...

. He later announced he would retire after the 2020 Six Nations Championship, where he could play in front of his home crowd at the Stadio Flaminio one more time. Unfortunately, the match against

in March was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and Parisse again postponed his retirement. In an interview with

Will Greenwood William John Heaton Greenwood, MBE (born 20 October 1972) is an English former rugby union player who played for Leicester Tigers and Harlequins and was a member of England's 2003 World Cup-winning team and the 1997 British & Irish Lions. H ...

in late 2020, Parisse stated that he would keep in touch with Italian national side head coach

Franco Smith Petrus Francois Smith (born 29 July 1972 in Lichtenburg, South Africa) is a former South African international rugby union player. He is now the head coach for Glasgow Warriors. His regular playing position was fly-half or centre. Playing c ...

in order that he might be able to retire after participating in the 2021 Six Nations. While the official end to Parisse's international career is still up in the air, Italy started the 2021 championship with

Luca Bigi Luca Bigi (born 19 April 1991) is an Italian professional rugby union player who primarily plays hooker for Zebre Parma of the United Rugby Championship. He has also represented Italy at international level, having made his test debut against S ...

as captain in place of Parisse, and thus, it appears more and more unlikely that Parisse will get his wish to play one last game in front of his home crowd.

Personal life

He is a keen

skier Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...

, but has done it less often after teammate Sylvain Marconnet broke his leg skiing in 2007. Parisse married Miss France 2006 and

Miss Europe 2006 Miss Europe 2006, was the 58th edition of the Miss Europe pageant and the third and final edition under Endemol France. After this years contest, the pageant was planned for 2007, 2008 & 2009 with it being held in places in Moscow and Beirut. The ...

Alexandra Rosenfeld Alexandra Rosenfeld (born 23 November 1986) was elected Miss France in 2006. Representing the region of Languedoc, she succeeded Cindy Fabre as the 77th Miss France on 3 December 2005. Early life and education Alexandra Rosenfeld was born in ...

in early 2010. They got married in

Hérault Hérault (; oc, Erau, ) is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France. Named after the Hérault River, its prefecture is Montpellier. It had a population of 1,175,623 in 2019.Béziers. Rosenfeld and Parisse divorced in April 2013. Parisse married Silvia Bragazzi in 2014. Parisse has appeared on Dieux du Stade on numerous occasions. Parisse's family are native Italian speakers, and he was raised bilingual. He is a native

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

speaker in addition to a French and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

speaker.

Style of play

Parisse is known for having many qualities, among them, his powerful running ability, poised offloading and supreme awareness. He is a powerful ball-carrier, athletic and furiously committed; a useful line-out option, defensively sound, and blessed with superb handling, pace and impressive footwork. As a team-mate at Stade in Paris, England lock Tom Palmer described him as "a high-quality player, a very good and powerful athlete, who combines that with being very skilful. He has a high work-rate, so he has everything you need to be a top player."

legend

Paul O'Connell Paul Jeremiah O'Connell (born 20 October 1979) is an Irish former rugby union player and coach. When he stopped playing, he was Ireland's third most-capped player (108) and the eighteenth most-capped international player in rugby union histo ...

has also waxed lyrical about Parisse. "Sergio has everything. He catches high balls, he chases high balls, he chips, he can make turnovers on the ground, he intercepts, he’s a phenomenal carrier, if he has to go straight he has great footwork, he’s a brilliant passer, he pressurises the referee. He does it all."

Legacy

Parisse has often been praised for maintaining his high standards and world-class performances even as a part of a lacklustre era for Italian rugby. About this fact, he stated that "Obviously I did not achieve a lot of wins in the Italy jersey but that doesn't make me feel any less proud. I have always hated defeat but that does not make me feel like a failure. I was not playing for New Zealand, so I knew there would be more defeats than victories, but as captain you have to set an example. My job as captain was not just to make speeches. The day after a game, you might wake up and feel dead because you've given a lot of emotion, but you've failed to win. You lose by three points and you're overthinking. "Why did we lose? How do we get better? Why didn't our plan work?" But you have to keep going. Again. Again. Again. It is easier to captain a team when you are winning 80 per cent of the time, sure, but you stay positive." He has played in 142 tests, of which he has lost 106. Parisse played in five

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

s, making his debut in the 2003 tournament hosted by Australia, and going on to play in France (2007), New Zealand (2011), England (2015) and Japan (2019). He's only the third player to achieve such a feat, along with fellow italian back-rower

Mauro Bergamasco Mauro Bergamasco (born 1 May 1979) is a former Italian rugby union footballer who last played for Zebre. He predominantly played as an open-side flanker, although his versatility means that he had also played a number of international games on th ...

and Samoan midfielder

Brian Lima Brian Pala Lima '' OM'' (born 25 January 1972) is a Samoan former rugby union player who was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame in 2011. He earned the nickname of "The Chiropractor" for his shuddering hits both on and off the pitch that supposedl ...

. With 69 appearances, Parisse is the most-capped player in Guinness Six Nations history. He's the third player with most international caps (142) in world rugby, only behind

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

legend

Richie McCaw Richard Hugh McCaw (born 31 December 1980) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He captained the national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 test matches, and won two Rugby World Cups. He has won the World Rugb ...

and

stalwart

Alun Wyn Jones Alun Wyn Jones (born 19 September 1985) is a Welsh professional rugby union player who plays as a Rugby union/lock, lock for the Ospreys (rugby union), Ospreys and the Wales national rugby union team, Wales national team. He is List of rugby u ...

. Parisse has been twice nominated for the prestigious

World Rugby Player of the Year The World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year is an accolade awarded annually by World Rugby at the World Rugby Awards. The award is presented to honour "the achievements of those involved at the highest level of the world game on the field". Th ...

award, losing to Welsh speedster

in 2008 and All Blacks icon

Kieran Read Kieran James Read (born 26 October 1985) is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He played as a number 8 and is a former captain of the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks. Read played for New Zealand from 2008 to 2019. He is one of ...

in 2013. To date, he's the only Italian to be nominated. When Italy coach Franco Smith was asked how to replace Parisse, he was straightforward, "You don't. The more you want to replace him, the more difficult it is going to be. He's one of a kind. There are a lot of rugby personalities around the world that have never been replaced. You lose them forever, but there are new personalities that can develop. He's overshadowed Italian rugby, for the right reasons, for a very long time. Now it's time to shine a light on others who can develop with Sergio as their example."

Honours

* National Championship of Excellence **Champions

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Veneti ...

: 2002–03, 2003–04 *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

**Champions

: 2004–05 * French Top 14 **Champions Stade Français: 2006–07, 2014–15 *

European Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception i ...

** Champions Stade Français: 2016–17 **''Runners-up (2)'' 2010–11, 2012–13

References

External links

RBS 6 Nations profileParisse handed Italy captaincy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parisse, Sergio 1983 births Living people Argentine rugby union players Benetton Rugby players Italian people of Argentine descent Italian rugby union players Italy international rugby union players Barbarian F.C. players Rugby union number eights Stade Français players RC Toulonnais players Italian expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in France Italian expatriate sportspeople in France Sportspeople from La Plata