Available: Sergio Parisse
Italy captain Sergio Parisse is free to play England on Sunday after having won his appeal over a ban for insulting a referee.
The panel at Parisse's appeal hearing ruled that no insult had been made to referee Laurent Cardona during the Top 14 clash between Stade Français and Bordeaux, with Parisse's red card ruled as unjust.
Parisse's sentence has now been reduced by half to 20 days, making him available for Sunday's clash at Twickenham.
"Parisse will be re-activated as of Saturday, so he'll be able to play against England," said FFR Appeals Commission president Gilbert Chevrier.
Cardona accused the Argentine-born Azzurri star of insulting him in English, a charge which the multi-lingual Parisse has strongly denied.
And his charge has now been reduced from 'insulting a referee' to 'failing in his captain's duties', and he will perform community service as well as serve the 20-day ban.
The 29-year-old Parisse, who has been capped 93 times by Italy, missed the Six Nations loss to Wales in Rome and had been set to sit out the remainder of the event but will now be able to face both England and Ireland, who the Italians face in Rome on 16 March.
Comments
Noshonmescrote says...
Dee dee diddle diddle dum FFR
Dee dee diddle diddle dum FFR
Dee FFR
Dee FFR
Diddle diddle diddle diddle dum FFR...
Posted 16:25 06th March 2013
jamesliveinhope says...
"failing in his captain's duties??????????????????????????????????????
Presume that the act of getting sent off is a failure to be a captain
I'm sure that this has been lost in translation somewhere and its some "bringing the game into disrepute" type charge but it all sounds farcicle - he ought to come to England where the bans are completely fair and consistent :-p
Posted 16:16 06th March 2013
Lucasrg says...
@lawynd
Well said.
Sergio hopefully, will learn that is better to keep his words at bay, especially insulting someone, close to a ref, in another language.
If he was in the training squad this week is because the F.I.R. was confident enough that he was right and the proofs against him were unjust.
Still, against England there will be no miracle at Twickenham. We can only go there head down, play good rugby and learn from the masters of European rugby. If we can can be withing striking distance, it will be a good game. The problems of Italy are not in the back-row, only the number 10, the mind-set, and let me add...its politicians!
Posted 16:02 06th March 2013
masar says...
PARISSE IS JUST MARKETING
Posted 16:00 06th March 2013
APV1 says...
I love to watch him play against everyone. Except England.
Dammit!
We now have to start with Haskell, Robshaw and Wood. Vunipola is too green to be going up against one of the world's best players on debut.
And I have to agree with lawynd, PR's attempts to provoke the nationality debate is getting very tired indeed.
PR - please stop with the "x Country-born..." and the "y country-qualified" and the other unnecessary bits of information. If you're worried that we might be missing some vital background, why not have a separate page listing all players' birthplace, nationality, eligibility-grounds, etc? That way if people want to, they have a forum to go batty about these things. Personally if I care enough, I use Wiki like the rest of the world.
Posted 15:51 06th March 2013
giomamo says...
As italian i'm glad about this news but it was no clear there was any insult, as i wrote in the comments here:
http://www.planetrugby.co.uk/story/0,25883,3820_8515203,00.html
Now all the affair becomes even ridicoulous. First step: 40 days of ban (reduced to 30), six nations finished; Second step: 10 days of cut due to "ailing in his captain's duties" (what the hell does it mean???) and readmited to last two games.
Now we have that Wales didn't face him, but England will do! It should have seen as a lack over the regularity of the tournament. In any case if he was guilty he deserved even a more severe ban but if he wasnt (as it seems after this new sentence) why to confirm a lighter suspension for him? In name of which guilty?
Posted 15:11 06th March 2013
chubbylugs says...
so if he didnt say it, why is does a charge still stand?
Posted 15:10 06th March 2013
bloggo says...
i knew it all along. even if he did insult the ref it wouldnt been something depricating about his dress sense... or something like that
http://carsayer.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/what-parisse-really-said-2/
Posted 15:05 06th March 2013
lawynd says...
@Speartackle - the article only says he was born in Argentina...that said, PR articles mentioning a player's country of birth all the time are getting old now, it's a tired discussion.
Posted 14:52 06th March 2013
fachese says...
As previously commented it was obviously not him sayin it, I wonder what took 2 hearings to understand something a poor tv viewer got right away...
Posted 14:51 06th March 2013
rugby_rockstar says...
Stitch up! Its a conspiracy!!!!! They're out to get us!!!!!
Seiously, I would prefer to see Sergio on the pitch getting talked about for the right reasons. He's quality and great to watch.
Posted 14:47 06th March 2013
TVaddict says...
Although obviously this will make the Italians a lot more of a dangerous prospect, I'm glad he's back as it's so much better having full strength teams.
Posted 14:25 06th March 2013
carpelone says...
The multi-lingual Parisse...??? LOL
Let's hope that this would make Italy's games a bit more entertaining.
Posted 14:18 06th March 2013
Speartackle says...
Very well. But, again... He is Italian! Born in Argentine, but mother and father are Italians.
Posted 14:11 06th March 2013