The China Mail - Italian great Parisse delays retirement with World Cup in mind

Ol' Blue Eyes first retired in 1971 but came back to play another thousand concerts before his voice finally demanded that he rest up in the easy chair.

Similarly Argentina-born Parisse, who turns 39 in September, has announced he would retire only to row back on it.

Thus the Toulon back-rower is gearing up once more for the club's Top 14 season-opener against Bayonne on Saturday.

It will be Parisse's 20th season of top level rugby -– his 18th in the Top 14 –- and one that he hopes may even allow him to bow out of the game playing for Italy in the 2023 World Cup.

Rewind to the last Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019 and the stage was set for Parisse, capped 142 times since making his international debut as an 18-year-old in 2002, to bring down the final curtain against New Zealand.

Along came Typhoon Hagibis which caused the match to be cancelled, leaving Parisse with some unfinished business.

Retirement was pushed back only for the pandemic to intervene, since when he has been surplus to Italian requirements. But the candle still burns bright.

"I have never closed the door to the Italian team," Parisse told AFP.

"To be in the national team, you have to play for a club. If I manage to play well, I will give myself a chance of being called up to the Italy team. And if the coach calls me, I'll be there. But nothing is decided yet.

"If you call up a 39-year-old player, that player must be up to it. So the priority is to perform well with the club."

Italy's first game at next year's World Cup against Namibia is on September 9, three days before Parisse turns 40.

- 'My way of life' -

As time goes by, it is normal for a player's desire and physical presence to wane. It would be overegging it to suggest that the best is yet to come -- he was twice nominated in his pomp for World Player of the Year -- but nothing seems to be getting in the way of Parisse's enthusiasm and fitness.

"Enthusiasm is my way of life, it's my way of approaching this sport," says Parisse.

"I am so passionate that I am consumed by enthusiasm. I had no doubts on a mental level. Physically, my body is still holding up and I still feel like I'm playing at this (high) level. That's just talk, of course, it's the matches that will show if my decision is right or not."

Parisse bites back at any reminder that he has been threatening to retire for the last few years.

"No," he insists. "The context was a little different in recent seasons with Covid.

"The pandemic allowed me to rest for four months. My body responded well to the break, it allowed me to do one more season.

"Last year, I had the chance to stop but once you stop, it's over. There's no coming back. I asked myself many questions and I concluded that my body was holding up and my head even more so."

The icing on the cake would be a recall to the Italy side for the Webb Ellis trophy in France in a year's time.

"If we were to write a book with a nice ending where everyone ends up happy, it would end like that," he says.

"All my family and friends ask me the same question. But I don't like to talk about it too much because I'm superstitious.

"Today, it's not a priority because the most important thing is what goes on on the pitch.

"Some people might want to hear that my first goal is the World Cup, but that's too far. A year from now. A lot of things can happen. But, of course, it would be magical."

U.Feng--ThChM