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Simon Zebo on why he left Ireland and his situation with current boss Andy Farrell
By Liam Heagney
Andy Farrell has named his 35-man squad for the rescheduled Ireland Six Nations matches later this month and it was no surprise that the name of Simon Zebo was absent from the list.
It was June 2017 when the former Munster back earned the last of his 35 caps in a win over Japan at Shizuoka. On announcing in October of that year that he would be joining Racing, Joe Schmidt, the then Test team coach, froze him out of his plans.
Not since the Six Nations title-clinching win at Scotland in March 2015 has a player based outside Ireland been capped, Johnny Sexton the last to get recognition. While Zebo is now at the same Racing club Sexton was, those days of calling up someone who doesn't play his club rugby for one of the four provinces seem over.
Appearing on RugbyPass Offload, the new podcast show he is hosting along with England's Dylan Hartley, Wales' Jamie Roberts and Scotland's Ryan Wilson, Zebo reflected on his cut-short Ireland career and explained where he currently stood with new Test boss Farrell.
"That's a tricky one. I haven't spoken to Andy in quite a bit of time now. We have a really good relationship anyway. He is a quality dude, a quality person. I haven't spoken to him in a long time.
"I suppose the door is never really closed. There is no official rule so if I was to play unbelievably well, play out of my skin, us [Racing] win a European Cup and challenge again next year, you never know what can happen but as of now, yeah, contact has been quite limited, unfortunately," he said.
However, the singular focus of playing club rugby in France has suited him compared to life with Ireland when a Munster player. "I just wasn't enjoying it. I wasn't happy, I suppose, going to international camp, meeting up, I'd kind of stay in my room all day, things like that. It wasn't a good place for me mentally going there towards the end.
"That definitely played a big part in the decision. I'm very happy now, so I suppose it all worked out. It was maybe meant to be like that for me. It's probably a little bit sad as well."
- To listen on iTunes, click here
https://open.spotify.com/show/3fZwAitUVlvzTbOxe9cNxq?si=xdCv9rS8Rku-Vjiko4wgEA
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To be fair it was nowhere bear the Leinster first team (for which, btw, Leinster copped nothing like the outrage that Jake White did for sending a rotated team to the UK). But it’s fun to watch the Stormers doing their thing. They are attracting big, diverse crowds of young fans, and deservedly so. Great to see.
Go to commentsIt might be legal but he’s sailing pretty close to the wind. Not a lot needs to go wrong for Finau to end up in the bin. Was it late? Not quite, but borderline. High? A couple of CM within the laws, no room for error with that one. Did he wrap the arms? There was a token effort to wrap one arm, the intent was clearly to hit with the shoulder. So yeah, it’s legal, just. But as we all know, a very slight change in the dynamics could easily have him seeing red. Hopefully not when it really matters.
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