{"id":520064,"date":"2026-04-08T19:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/520064\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T19:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:05:10","slug":"sergio-parisse-reveals-gregor-townsends-role-in-his-return-to-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/520064\/","title":{"rendered":"Sergio Parisse reveals Gregor Townsend’s role in his return to Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sergio Parisse sought counsel from an unexpected source before making his decision to return to Italy and join Gonzalo Quesada\u2019s coaching team.<\/p>\n

The legendary number eight will leave RC Toulon at the end of the current season to return to the set-up he knew so well as a player.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a year-long courtship from Quesada\u2019s part, with the Italian<\/a> head coach initially reaching out in December 2024, but the Azzurri great was not ready to make the move just yet for two reasons: He wanted to gain more experience as a coach, and he wanted to honour his contract with Toulon.<\/p>\n

Reaching out to Gregor Townsend<\/p>\n

He believes that the timing is now right with the Rugby World Cup around the corner, but he didn\u2019t make the decision without doing some due diligence.<\/p>\n

Realising that his new job would be a different challenge, he reached out to Scotland<\/a> boss Gregor Townsend<\/a>, who has gone through a similar transition from playing to club coach to international coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cGregor explained to me that Test rugby is a different game from a coach\u2019s lens,\u201d Parisse recalled in an exclusive interview with Planet Rugby.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe reminded me you have a lot more time to think about things. You\u2019re coaching ten to twelve games a year as opposed to twenty-eight to thirty-six in the Top 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you really have time to develop your own learning and the learning of the players around you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sergio Parisse exclusive: Why it\u2019s the \u2018optimal\u2019 time for me to join Italy\u2019s coaching team before the World Cup<\/a><\/p>\n

Springboks: Double Rugby World Cup winner reveals how he was \u2018humbled so bad\u2019 on his international debut<\/a><\/p>\n

Eager to get stuck in<\/p>\n

A self-professed obsessive, Parisse is looking forward to the challenge of being an assistant coach at the highest level.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need a lot more detail, and it\u2019s very much about quality over quantity, something that appeals to me,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always obsessed over skill and mental detail, and this gives me a chance to develop that further. It\u2019ll be very full on, very intense, but throughout my career, I\u2019ve always been somebody that wanted to improve my knowledge and really wanted to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Quesada is eager to link up with the former Stade Francais captain again.<\/p>\n

\u201cSergio was a great player, a role model for Italy and all the teams he played for,\u201d he said in a statement from the FIR.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was my captain at Stade Francais, together we won a Bouclier de Brennus and a Challenge Cup, I know his qualities as a man and a sportsman, and the level of commitment he puts into everything he does.<\/p>\n

\u201d I know he can\u2019t wait to give his contribution to our staff and the national team, and it\u2019s wonderful that someone who has meant so much to Italian rugby is returning to his home country: he will add his professionalism and experience to a staff that already has great human and professional qualities. In the coming weeks we will also finalise the position of the new scrum coach, so we can have a complete team for the start of this summer\u2019s Nations Championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Mike Blair: The \u2018fortunate\u2019 luxury the All Blacks have that\u2019s different from coaching in Scotland<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sergio Parisse sought counsel from an unexpected source before making his decision to return to Italy and join…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[102286,348,3482,479,5903,200,164863,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-520064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-gregor-townsend","9":"tag-home-page","10":"tag-internationals","11":"tag-italy","12":"tag-rugby","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-sergio-parisse","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}