Brendan Gallagher comment: Why Sergio Parisse will always be a winner in defeat

Sergio Parisse fascinates me. He comfortably makes the top five all-round rugby players I have reported on over the last ten years and if I was picking a current Earth XV to take on Mars he, Kieran Read and Julien Savea would be the next names on the teamsheet behind Richie McCaw.
Yet this is a man who has lost in 79 of the 110 Test games he has started for Italy. Only his colleague Marco Bortolami, with 81 defeats in his 111 Tests tops him in the history of international rugby.
It’s a horribly cruel stat but it also talks eloquently of an extraordinary ability to rise above the mediocrity of those around him because it’s very difficult to recall a game in which he hasn’t been outstanding.
He was at it again yesterday, with only Luca Morisi challenging him as Italy’s best performer, a rallying point at all times whether it was scoring their first half try or pulling off a miraculous first half tackle on the speeding Anthony Watson when it looked like the Bath man was through.
One moment he was manhandling that bear of a man Dave Attwood to the ground the next he was taking on James Haskell in full cry.
His first 40 minutes in particular yesterday were a masterclass in No.8 play. Check the tape when you get a moment.
With Italy failing to ever adequately replace their half-back pairings since the retirement of Alessandro Troncon and Diego Dominguez, Parisse has had to shoulder many of the play-making responsibilities in addition to his regular duties up front.
To be honest he probably takes on too much but what choice has he got?
Does he never look enviously over to other stronger teams and wonder what might have been, the honours and titles that could have come his way?
Wouldn’t he, just for once, like to play in a Test without being expected to work miracles, in a team that kick their penalties and clinically take their chances.
Doesn’t he ever dream of packing down alongside the likes of Read and/or McCaw? How good would he look then?
“Never, the thought never occurs to me,” insists Parisse. “Italy is my country, Italy is my team.
Perhaps we don’t win so many games but we still have victories if you understand me.
“To compete and play well against the world’s best teams is a triumph in itself and to beat them occasionally is very special.
“Today we played England at Twickenham and scored three good tries against one of the best teams in the world and perhaps we were a little unlucky with the decision over England’s first try which came at an important time.
“The best team won and to our supporters back in Italy it might not look a great scoreline.
“But the team knows that we played well at times today and stretched England at times.
“Listen we are not enjoying our best period in the tournament at present but people who know rugby know that the odds are against us and in the last week we have just played the reigning champions and England at Twickenham.
“We have lost to two great teams but the Championship is not over and we hope for a better result in our next match against Scotland.”
I fully understand Parisse’s admirable national pride and the camaraderie that he enjoys with his team but what always astounds me is how the Italian skipper maintains his world-class standards in a team being beaten and outplayed so consistently.
His craftsman’s pride in his art never deserts him.
His level of professionalism is exceptional and his durability, Italy almost never enjoy the luxury of an easier match, a quiet day at the office. Playing for Italy in the Six Nations is an exercise in crisis management; it’s exhausting just watching their perennial fight for survival.
You fear for the future.
Where are all the young Italian back-row players?
It should be a position of strength, big, athletic guys working off an always competitive front five but very few seem to be breaking through.
Perhaps the enduring Parisse/Bergamasco/Zanni axis has actually discouraged an entire generation of players – that happens sometimes – and Italy need to go direct to the next generation after that after the World Cup
In the meantime, aged just 31, I would not expect Parisse to retire anytime soon.
Given his skill levels, which will offset any declines in pace around the park, it’s not inconceivable that he will bat on until the 2019 World Cup.
By which time he could be approaching 150 caps and have established a world record for the number of Test defeats that will stand for ever and a day.
Sport can be horrible like that, mocking the efforts of great warriors, but rest assured Sergio Parisse will be remembered as a sensational player first and a sporting quiz question second.