Parisse in no mood to celebrate

Editor

Italy captain Sergio Parisse took little consolation from his man-of-the-match award following the Azzurri's narrow defeat to England in their Six Nations clash in Rome.

Italy captain Sergio Parisse took little consolation from his man-of-the-match award following the Azzurri's narrow defeat to England in their Six Nations clash in Rome.

The Italians were hoping to beat England for the first time in a Test match but a brave second-half fight back from the hosts ended with Brian Ashton's side winning 23-19.

“I would have preferred not to have had such a good game and to have seen my team win,” Parisse said.

“To be man of the match when you lose, it's of little comfort.”

Parisse celebrated his 50th appearance in the Italian colours at a sold-out Stadio Flaminio.

“To have earned 50 caps is a great achievement for any player,” he said.

“It makes me proud and it's a beautiful thing.”

It would have been all the more sweet had Nick Mallett's side upset the odds to claim their first win of the 2008 tournament in the Eternal City against last year's World Cup runners-up.

Despite falling 20-6 behind at the interval, Italy never lost hope.

“At half-time we said to ourselves 'let's do the game plan we had hoped to follow and not what we had done in the opening half',” Parisse revealed.

“It had been an open game until the end.

“In the second half we improved, we were more patient, we held possession and we played a more beautiful and effective game.”

The 24-year-old believes Italy could have come out triumphant had they avoided mistakes in the crucial last minutes of the game.

“After Simon Picone's try, we realised we could get a result,” Parisse said.

“Perhaps had we not made that many mistakes in the last minutes of the game we could have won.

“We made many mistakes in our lineouts and we lost a crucial lineout close to the end which could have been decisive.”

Italy will be hoping to bounce back from their narrow defeats to Ireland and England when they take on Wales at the Millennium Stadium on February 23.

However, Parisse believes his team still have plenty of work to do.

“We have a lot to improve,” he said.

“We must be humble. We have introduced new tactics having a new coach in charge and we must continue to work hard.”

Parisse, who was selected by Mallett to replace Marco Bortolami as skipper last month, is playing a huge role in Italy's inspiring performances, according to his national coach.

“The performance of the national team has a lot to do with Sergio's captaincy,” Mallett said.

“Against England he really kept the team together and I am very happy with his role as captain.”