ONE wonders if Italy captain Sergio Parisse is just playing mind games or just being brutally honest when he writes off his side’s chances of winning tomorrow as ‘mission impossible’.

Frankly speaking, with the Azzurri 25-1 to win at the bookies, the odds are he’s shooting from the hip rather than the lip.

With his world class attributes as one of the game’s finest number eights, Parisse is a diamond among the rough when it comes to his country.

One can see his star quality when he plays for his club Stade Français or dons the Barbarians shirt, but the true mark of the man is he almost always shines for an Italy side who can struggle badly against the game’s elite sides.

And the 28-year-old pin-up boy seems to be pulling no punches when he insists Grand Slam-chasing Wales will win tomorrow.

“We beat Wales in 2007 in Rome, but at this moment I can’t say that we really can beat them because they are playing fantastic rugby,” Parisse said.

“Going to Cardiff, to the Millennium Stadium, against this team is probably something impossible for us.”

Always competitive in Rome, an England scalp eluded Italy last month when some tactical ineptitude and some ropey play by replacement outside half Tobias Botes let Chris Robshaw’s men off the hook in the snow.

But their away trips so far saw them plastered in Paris after losing 30-12 to France and desolated in Dublin, going down 42-10.

“Against Ireland we produced a good 40 minutes, but we were embarrassed in the second-half,” the 86-times capped Parisse said.

“Every time we go on the field we go out to win because we believe that we have the possibility to do it.

“But for sure, we must play the perfect match.

“Everyone must play his best match of this year to beat Wales. For me, probably, they are the best team at this moment in the competition.

“I think they respect us as a team, and they know probably for sure we are not the best team in this competition.”

Parisse hasn’t raised the white flag quite yet however and managed to throw a little grenade when he said: “But if Wales don’t take the match seriously, we can put them under pressure.”

Bigging up Wales is a theme repeated by Italy coach Jacques Brunel who underlined the enormity of his team’s task against the Six Nations title hot favourites.

Six previous Cardiff visits have produced an average scoreline of 39-14 in Wales favour, and a similar outcome is widely anticipated this time around.

“Wales are the strongest team in the tournament,” Brunel said.

“They have a lot of quality. They reached the World Cup semi-finals and could have gone further than that.

“They have rhythm, they are accustomed to playing together and they possess so many great players.”