Sergio Parisse, 142 caps with the national team, the most present and celebrated athlete in the history of Italian rugby, 94 times captain of Italy, is the first Italian to join the World Rugby Hall of Fame. The International Federation has officially inducted the unforgettable captain of the national team, together with two other male and female athletes, into the panel of those – players, coaches, managers, referees or institutions – who have contributed in an exceptional way to the history and development of the game .
Parisse, 41, who after retiring in the summer of 2023 embarked on a coaching career with Toulon RCthe club where he concluded his legendary career, will officially join the very small circle of legends of the oval on November 24th in Monte Carlo, on the occasion of the annual World Rugby Awards ceremony. The former number eight and captain of the Azzurri made his debut with Italy in 2002 in Hamilton against New Zealand, closing his international career seventeen years later against South Africa, on the occasion of the 2019 Japanese Rugby World Cup, going through the path of five technical commissioners: John Kirwan, who launched him as soon as he came of age, Pierre Berbizier, Nick Mallett who gave him the rank of captain and then Jacques Brunel and Conor O’Shea.
Together with Parisse, who with his 142 appearances is the fourth most present player of all time on the Test match scene, the Australian Olympic champion Emilee Barton-Cherry, Donna Kennedy, the first ever Scottish athlete to reach 100 caps with the dark blue jersey, the former New Zealand 7s captain DJ Forbes and Chris Laidlaw, 20 times will be inducted into the international Hall of Fame playing with the All Blacks between 1963 and 1970 before embarking on a political career as a member of the New Zealand Parliament. (AGI)
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