• Alexandra Rosenfeld is one of the most famous WAGs at RWC 2011

    Date: 2011.10.13 | Category: Sports News, Wags | Tags: ,,,,,,,

    by Dave Green

    Former Miss France is married to current captain of the Italian national rugby union team, Sergio Parisse.

    24-year-old Alexandra Rosenfeld is a French beauty from Beziers, who on December 2005 became the 52nd Miss France, and one year later elected as Miss Europe 2006. In 2006 she also turned into Italian rugby star Sergio Parisse’s wife, reason why her name has ever since been linked to this sport.

    Parisse is a member of the Italian national rugby union team that participated in the Rugby World Cup 2011, where they fell eliminated in the group stage. Despite this, with two victories and two losses, they clinched the third place in Pool C, which qualifies them for the 2015 Rugby World Cup hosted by England.

    The seventh edition of the Rugby World Cup is currently being disputed in New Zealand. It started on September 9 and will run until October 23, when the final will be held at Eden Park. 20 nations from the five continents make up this worldwide event: Namibia and defending champion South Africa from Africa; Argentina, Canada and United States from America; Japan from Asia, from Europe: England, France, Ireland, the already mentioned Italy, Romania, Scotland, Georgia, Russia and Wales; as for Oceania their representatives are Australia, Fiji, hosts New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga.

    There will be a new champion after Australia defeated South Africa in the quarterfinals last Monday by 11-9, making their way into the semifinals where they will face New Zealand on October 16. The other ticket at stake for the grand finale will be disputed between Wales and France one day before.

    In some countries like Wales the expectations are very high, reason why the Millennium Stadium located in its capital city, Cardiff, will be equipped with big screens, where 75,000 fans will have the chance to support their team. Their highest achievement at a RWC was the third place clinched in the inaugural tournament in 1987, which they would automatically improve with a victory against France.

    France is one of the countries where rugby has grown considerably, as it is no longer only a regional sport according to TV stats that showed a peak of 9.5 million people following 19-12 victory of their nation in the Quarterfinals against England, despite being played at 9am local time.

    About how the Australians and New Zealanders will live their showdown there isn’t much that can be added to a 122-year rivalry, other than the obvious: it just keeps getting stronger confrontation after confrontation. Since 1903 they have disputed 166 games, with a strong dominance from the New Zealand reflected in 119 victories.

    With Italy eliminated and her country still with chances of making it into the finals, there are no doubts that Alexandra will be cheering for France. A victory against Wales would give the French the third chance of winning the championship, after the disappointments against New Zealand in 1987 and Australia in 1999.

    As for us, well…we will most likely cheer for her and just read the recap.