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Zebre name immediate replacement as NZ coach exits for 'family reasons'

175 days ago

David Sisi of Italy carries the ball during the Rugby World Cup France 2023 match between France and Italy at Parc Olympique on October 06, 2023 in Lyon, France. (Photo by Paul Harding/Getty Images)

Zebre Parma has announced that David Sisi will retire as a player and assume the role of lineout coach for the next two seasons – while confirming the exit of forwards coach Joshua Syms.

Sisi – who made 104 appearances and scored five tries for the club between 2017 and 2024 – is transitioning into a coaching role under new head coach Massimo Brunello. The 31-year-old earned 30 caps for Italy and competed in a Rugby World Cup.

The former England U20s star has chosen to remain with the club and city of Parma where he has lived since 2017 with his family.

Facing Goliath | A story following Italy as they take on the mighty All Blacks | A Rugby Originals Documentary

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Facing Goliath | A story following Italy as they take on the mighty All Blacks | A Rugby Originals Documentary

“Continuing the excellent work Josh [Syms] has done so far is a great responsibility and a new challenge that I embrace with pleasure and enthusiasm,” said Sisi. “The decision to stop playing was not easy, but I am very happy to continue working with this group of athletes with whom I have shared so much.

“During my career I have gained a long and diversified experience at an international level. I have compared myself with many great coaches from the Premiership, the URC and the national team and I feel I can continue to offer my contribution to the group. My passion for Zebre is strong: I thank the club for the trust. As a player, I have given a lot, but now I want to leave a mark as a coach as well.”

Sisi captained Zebre in 25 matches and became the franchise’s twelfth centurion this year.

Zebre also announced that Syms has left the club to return to New Zealand for family reasons. The club expressed gratitude for Syms’ contributions and wished him well.

“I loved the time I spent at Zebre,” said Syms. “I will always be grateful for the experience, relationships and friendships I built during my time in Parma. I am also grateful for the support that the club has provided me during this difficult period for my family. I am sure that the future of the club will be bright: I wish the players and staff the best for the 2024/25 season.”

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Comments on RugbyPass

YeowNotEven 1 minute ago

'There's a lot of rugby knowledge': David Havili's reasoning behind in-form backline

Cullen grace seems to me like an old leathery veteran and he’s barely in his mid 20s

27 Go to comments

YeowNotEven 6 minutes ago

Antoine Dupont undergoes surgery on injured knee ahead of long absence

Sux DuPont got hurt but it was a normal rugby incident. It’s a contact sport, accidents will happen, people get hurt.

We don’t need to go all Jan 6th with outrage every time someone breaks something or gets their head bumped.

8 Go to comments

PT 1 hour ago

Antoine Dupont undergoes surgery on injured knee ahead of long absence

The truth can sometimes sting a bit, so I fully understand your delusional take on it. Also, I'm sure you'd be aware of the list of opposition players Irish players have injured with this? To be clear, I don't believe the Irish players are trying to intentionally injure opposition players, certainly not. But they are reckless in a lot of their ‘clearing out’ maneuvers and tactics, therefore causing injuries to opposition players. I suppose they don't do it at training so they don't injure each other, but it really does appear to be repetitive aspect of their play.

So, why don't you get some batteries for your noddy train & go play for a while.

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raymond bailly 1 hour ago

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BH 1 hour ago

'There's a lot of rugby knowledge': David Havili's reasoning behind in-form backline

Your hatred for ALB is borderline trolling at this point. He’s proven himself at test level for years.

Ennor is done and dusted. Too injury prone for years and years. Proctor is a better choice.

27 Go to comments

BH 1 hour ago

'There's a lot of rugby knowledge': David Havili's reasoning behind in-form backline

Tele’a scored some wonderful tries on the end of year tour against England and Italy and played well against Ireland.

Reece is the liability at test level - he was shown up big time against France.

27 Go to comments

PS 1 hour ago

Antoine Dupont undergoes surgery on injured knee ahead of long absence

What you're asking for is an explanation for why the officials and citing officials don't make the same judgements on specific incidents as you do. What explanation can be given other than something along the lines of “the incident wasn't judged to have met the criteria for an illegal tackle”? What other explanation do you expect? Refs now give explanations for why an incident is judged to be illegal and why an illegal action may result in a card. If a card, or a penalty is not awarded. The only explanation possible is that there's no evidence of foul play. A coaching team can (and often do) seek clarity from the officials and WR on specific incidents in a game and they are free to share the outcome of such questions with fans. You should turn to the French coaching team for answers. The French coaching team should have raised any concerns in the appropriate channels instead of publicly accusing players of intentionally trying to injure another player. This incident has left a very sour taste and created a lot of bad blod

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JH 2 hours ago

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Given he’s from Christchurch, the Crusaders are probably kicking themselves a bit.

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JH 2 hours ago

Sky Sports commentator on why Wallabies players are outplaying All Blacks counterparts

““Rieko Ioane has struggled to find form in Super Rugby. We know what he can do at Test level, on the wing I’ll add that”

Exactly, and that was years ago now. Rieko is a liability with a seriously limited skillset, especially for a 13. Frankly, every opponent is outplaying him. He’ll still make the ABs though, every player over 50 caps will, because we don’t drop ‘leadership group’ players apparently.

7 Go to comments

PS 2 hours ago

Antoine Dupont undergoes surgery on injured knee ahead of long absence

I agree with your last sentence. In addition, I would like to add that I also wish you a speedy recovery from whatever made you write the first two sentences.

8 Go to comments

Poorfour 2 hours ago

Antoine Dupont undergoes surgery on injured knee ahead of long absence

I’m not looking for special treatment for anybody. If anything, I’m looking to dispel the perception that some teams are treated more leniently than others.

For instance, compare the tackle that ultimately earned Owen Farrell from the RWC warm ups with the one that only earned Eben Etzebeth a YC from head contact with Atonio in the QF. I have yet to see any reasonable justification for why two near-identical incidents (with Farrell’s if anything having the greater mitigation) produced totally different judgements.

Rugby has a long and inglorious history of dismissing these incidents without providing any explanation - remember the spear tackle on BOD on the 2005 Lions tour?

If Beirne wasn’t reckless, then he and Ireland should have nothing to fear, but the game benefits from having a clear explanation of why.

8 Go to comments

Chiefs Mana 2 hours ago

Sky Sports commentator on why Wallabies players are outplaying All Blacks counterparts

She’s talking more about individuals, i couldn’t agree more with you though from a team perspective.

Aussies also have the motivation of a Lions series to fuel them through and a lot of wide open spaces in the WB team.

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RedWarriors 4 hours ago

'Ulster, though no one wants to admit it, isn't much more than a development province right now.'

“There has been a university brain drain for many decades (at least since the 90s) so I'm not sure if overly relevant. Most talented youth players are identified at school and then provided a development contract with Ulster which requires them to stay in Ireland. I don't know of any young players who left to go to university and then were awarded professional rugby contacts to an English/Scottish team.”

Ok thanks, that clears that up.

43 Go to comments

RedWarriors 4 hours ago

'Ulster, though no one wants to admit it, isn't much more than a development province right now.'

“I would also be surprised if there are many kids going “across the water” to schools. It is a long time since I taught and coached rugby in Ulster, but I am still in contact with family and lads I coached…have not heard any of that mentioned.

What I have heard is that a significant number now to to Uni. outside Ireland. In my day it was Queen’s or Trinity, a few to UCD.”

Apologies, you are correct, I was thinking about Universities! I had heard that amore students were being educated outside of Ireland but mixed that up with fee paying schools. Would this affect potential rugby careers or would promising rugby players tend to stay in Ireland?

Wider question but I’ve often taught sevens was the way to break kids more generally into rugby. Say for example, Ireland had a successful 2023 RWC. Volume of rugby playing population could be quickly expanded via sevens then building pathways for promising looking 15s players etc.

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RedWarriors 4 hours ago

'Ulster, though no one wants to admit it, isn't much more than a development province right now.'

Another sign in Munster was Castletroy winning Junior and Senior Cups in same year maybe 15 years ago. Castletroy is a public schools (not fee paying) and it was a double first for a non Cork/Limerick private school or somewhere like Rockwell (where my Dad went).

He won the Senior Munster Cup when he was there. As a snapshot at what it was like in the 50s: he claimed a Cork team used to win most years then (Presentation College I think) as a victory celebration they used to kick the Cup down St Patricks hill (notoriously steep hill in Cork City Centre). The year Rockwell run, Presentation had paper marche-ed the cup back together from the previous years kick down St Patricks Hill. They assumed their guy would be the guy lifting the cup and he knew to be careful. With the shock Rockwell victory my Dad got to lift the cup and there was no gentleness only ecstacy. Unfortunately, he lifted so hard the two lugs detached and he hoisted the lugs in the air with the cup staying put. Presentation got the last laugh there!

Not sure if prez still kick it down Patricks Hill, maybe O’Gara would know!

43 Go to comments

Js 4 hours ago

Sky Sports commentator on why Wallabies players are outplaying All Blacks counterparts

Slow and steady builds for sustainability. Why burn out too soon? I agree with Wilson that Aussie players are trying to prove a point but our ABs don’t need to burn themselves out within the early stages.

7 Go to comments

RedWarriors 4 hours ago

'Ulster, though no one wants to admit it, isn't much more than a development province right now.'

Connaught has a population of 0.5 million and 1/14th of Ireland’s total population. They are building an exciting, strong, young team. We have no issues. What exactly is Munster’s issue? Is it injury or is something else? As I suggested a tweak to the centralized contracts to rebalance funding might help. As for Ulster, the playing pool needs to be expanded. Leinster has 3 million people, Ulster has 2.25 million but there is no comparison to the amount of players, systems and the Leinster academy. This is not explained by IRFU favouring Leinster players.

Leinster supply a lot of Ulster players as you imply and were it not for that Ulster would Ulster be in worse straits?

There is no magic wand here. I will put it plainly, Ulster needs to push rugby out beyond the traditional few schools that play. It probably needs the IRFUs help with that potentially with an Ireland wide plan to develop the sport.

Others have noted that an infusion of quality coaches would go a long way.