Zebo's latest comments further distance him from Joe Schmidt's Ireland set-up
The latest Simon Zebo comments emerging from France have put even more distance between him and Joe Schmidt's Ireland team, although the Cork native still apparently wants to be involved in Ireland Six Nations plans.
Zebo was officially unveiled by Racing 92 last week, although it would appear that the Munster man is already effectively in exile from the national team, having not been included in Ireland's November Tests.
Zebo comments to L'Equippe won't do much to sweeten what is an increasingly sour relationship between him and the IRFU.
"I would not understand if there’s one rule for the others and another for me," he told the French newspaper. "I’m fully eligible because I’m a Munster player until June. I hope I’ll be called up for the Six Nations."
What's more, Zebo claims that he and Schmidt have openly discussed his style of play and how it fits with Schmidt's more structured approach to rugby.
"I said to him that I couldn’t play in such a rigid structure. I can’t play like that"
"With Munster, I’m free to try things, to play the moves that I see. I don’t have any shackles."
It had been widely speculated long before his Munster exit that Zebo's free-form approach to attacking rugby wasn't going to fit with the within the rigid mechanics of Schmidt's approach to the game, and his comments appear to back up the theory.
"Joe is a super coach who has had great success with Ireland. We already talked about it face-to-face. I said to him that I couldn’t play in such a rigid structure. I can’t play like that.
"Winning is important but for me it’s also important to do it in a certain way. But if you ask me to pick between losing in style or winning ugly, I’d choose the second option."
According to SportLocker, Munster had offered Zebo a contract worth €350,000 and when you take into account match fees and different bonuses this figure rises to somewhere in the region of €400,000. It was widely reported in October that Racing 92 offered Zebo a contract worth €700,000, as well as accommodation and a car.
Latest Comments
It’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
Go to commentsDon’t pay a blind bit of notice to Lukie… he likes the sound of his own voice and is always looking for something controversial to say. He has been banging on about Leinster's defensive system all season like he knows something Jacques Nienebar doesn’t. Which is the reason why he didn’t apply for the job obviously
Go to comments