The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Azzurri ace hits out as Italy’s rugby dream is blown away
Sergio Parisse has hit out at World Rugby’s “ridiculous” decision to cancel Italy’s World Cup match against New Zealand.
Super Typhoon Hagibis is due to hit Japan this weekend and World Rugby has cancelled the clash, along with England’s meeting with France.
While improbable when facing the back-to-back world champions, a victory for Italy would have sent the Azzurri into the last eight.
And veteran number eight Parisse has pulled no punches in criticising tournament organisers for not relocating the fixture or altering the match day, instead simply cancelling the encounter and awarding both teams two match points.
“It is difficult to know that we won’t have the chance to play a match against one of the great teams,” said Parisse.
“If New Zealand needed four or five points against us it would not have been cancelled.
“It is ridiculous that a decision of this nature has been made because it isn’t like the fans arrived yesterday.
“It is ridiculous that there was no plan B, because it isn’t news that typhoons hit Japan.
“Sure everyone might think that Italy versus New Zealand being cancelled counts for nothing because we’d have lost anyway, but we deserved to be respected as a team.
“The alternative is plan B. When you organise a World Cup you should have one in place.”
New Zealand boss Steve Hansen admitted he would have been frustrated had he been on the receiving end of the raw deal that Italy now find themselves lamenting.
“If we’d had a choice, we would have rather played Friday (instead of Saturday) but it wasn’t our choice, it was out of our control,” said Hansen.
“So yes, there’s a lot of sympathy for them.
“But the right decisions are being made, because it’s all about safety.
“It’s always a risk at this time of year with the typhoons, but this is when we play the Rugby World Cup.
“If you play it earlier, you run the risk of people dying on the footy field because it’ll be 40 degrees.”