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Italy captain Sergio Parisse is adamant his team will not abandon their attacking style of play that has made them popular among neutral rugby fans and has called for the team to take greater risks as the team builds up to the RBS Six Nations Championship.

The Italians have had a dismal record since the launch of the tournament back in 2000, winning just eleven of the seventy matches they have played in so far but if last year’s showing was anything to go by when they defeated Ireland and France, Italians fans can expect a lot better from their team this season.

Although the Italian has a few injury problems to some big name players including Gonzalo Canale as well as Andrea Masi, Sergio Parisse has delivered a very positive assessment of his team as they get ready to take on the Six Nations champions Wales in a tough away match at Cardiff.

The Italian number eight stated that back in 2008, the question that was being raised was that they did not have a good scrum half but now, they have a squad that is more balanced overall.

He mentioned that the team can play in the back and can play a good brand of rugby and not just be dominating in the scrum regions.

Sergio Parisse went on to add that beating the likes of France and Ireland last season has given them a lot of confidence and although they kind of lost their way during the internationals in June and November, they are confident about replicating the performances of last season.

He mentioned that they have to play that same attacking style of rugby and take a few risks because in rugby, there is always some risk involved and taking them comes in handy very often.

Sergio Parisse, the Italian rugby union player is currently the captain of the national rugby union team of Italy. He has also captained Stade Francais, the French rugby team. Parisse was the first rugby union player of Italy who was nominated for the IRB international player of the year award.

Sergio started by joining the Italian professional rugby union team, Treviso and played there for almost 4 years. In 2005 he joined the Stade Francais. Sergio Parisse is a number 8 and has great handling ability. He has been marked as a special player, especially when the Italian team has struggled, because of his flair to get across the gainline and the positional sense that he shows in the lineout.

In 2002 Sergio Parisse had defeated New Zealand and was capped by the Italian Coach then, John Kirwan. The first test try that Parisse scored was against Canada in the Rugby World Cup tournament that was held in the year 2003. In the 2007 Rugby World Cup the Italian team was not able to go beyond the pool stage, however, Parisse had shown good performance. His form continued in the Six Nations Championship tournament of the year 2008. It was against England that he won his 50^th cap for Italy. He was also appointed the captain of the Italian team in 2008 in place of Marco Bortolami, by Nick Mallett. Sergio was nominated for the IRB International Player of the Year in the year 2008, September. Other nominees for the title in that year were Dan carter, Shane Williams, Ryan Jones and Mike Blair.

The 2009-10 top 14 seasons saw Parisse miss most of the tournaments because of a serious knee injury. The unfortunate injury also ruled him out of the Six Nations Championship tournament of the year 2010.

In 2012 and 2013 Six Nations Championship, Parisse once again captained Italy wherein the latter season started with Parisse scoring a try and the last week saw Italy defeat Ireland with 22-15, which was one of Italy’s most successful Six Nations match ever.

Sergio Parisse is a 29 year old rugby player who represents Italy. He was born in La Plata, Argentina in 1983, 12 September. He was selected to play for the team at a very early age of 18 by the then Italy coach John Kirwan. He has had some distinguished achievements as a flanker and number eight within such a short span of years. He was the captain of the stade François and is currently the captain of the Italy National Rugby Union team. He is the first Italian union player to be nominated for the IRB International Player of the Year.

In 2012 Sergio Parisse captained the Italian union team in the Six Nations Championship. Though Italy managed to avoid the wooden spoon by winning against Scotland, they were ingloriously defeated by France, Wales, England and Ireland. In 2013 also he captained Italy in the six nations championship. The beginning was in stride of Italy where Parisse himself scored a try and beat France. However in the very next match they lost to Scotland, 33-10 in a disappointing performance, in Murrayfield. On 23 February, Sergio Parisse missed a match due to inappropriate behavior on field. Italy struggled for a while, however succumbed. The following week Italy, captained by Parisse, lost to England. Only on the last week did they beat Ireland by a 22-15.

On the 29 may 2013, Sergio Parisse was named as captains of the barbarians for the weekend match in Hong Kong, against the British and Irish lions. The current coach is Dai Young, a three times lions tourist and winner of series in Australia and South Africa in 1989 and 1997 respectively. He seems to have undented confidence in Sergio Parisse. Parisse has been quoted saying,” I played two years ago for the Baa-baas and it is a big honor to be back again”.

Sergio Parisse is a professional rugby union player who is captain of the Italian national rugby team and is one of the star names of the renowned Stade Francais side of France. Parisse became the first rugby union player from Italy to be nominated for the International Rugby Board or IRB International Player of the Year.

Parisse is the son of Sergio Parisse Sr. who also played professional rugby for the L’Aquila club, winning the Italian Club Championships in 1967. He moved to Argentina in 1970 owing to his job and it was in Argentina that the junior Sergio was born in 1983. He took his first steps into rugby with the La Plata club in Argentina and although he was an Italian, he excelled in the sports in a foreign country. The family maintained the tradition of speaking Italian at home and he would travel to Italy on vacations every year before finally moving back permanently after securing a deal with Treviso.

Sergio Parisse played two years for the club before he secured a big money move to the start studded French side Stade Francais in 2005, and he has been at the club ever since, leading the club on several occasions. Parisse made his debut for the Italian national team at the age of just 18 years when he was given a call up to the national team by the coach John Kirwan.

Parisse was also a part of the Italian national team in the 2007 Rugby World Cup and he was named the captain of the team in the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Sergio Parisse was also the leader of the Italian team at the Six Nations Championship of 2012 and 2013, although the country failed to garner much success in either of these two tournaments.