Why Simon Zebo decided to swap Munster for French adventure

Simon Zebo will leave Munster and join Racing 92 next season, not because he was chasing the biggest pay-cheque but because the Ireland back-three star simply has a hunger to experience life on the other side of the fence.

The Irish Examiner understands Zebo, 27, made his final decision over the weekend, when Racing were in Limerick for the Champions Cup pool game between the clubs.

Zebo was offered more money by Racing’s Top14 rivals Pau while league leaders Lyon also expressed an interest in the services of one of Irish rugby’s few players with genuine X-factor.

It is understood that Munster, his home province, made the Corkman a considerably improved offer to remain in red, although it is unclear whether the player gave the IRFU the opportunity to make a further counter-offer.

Of course, the money set to go Zebo’s way from next season is a significant factor.

Yet in this case, so too is the lure of a life in Paris with his Spanish partner Elvira and their two preschool children, the chance to broaden professional horizons in a league laden with world-class international talent, and an opportunity to work on a daily basis with former teammate and future Munster boss Ronan O’Gara, the Racing assistant coach.

“This club has moulded me into the player and person I am today and I will forever be grateful for that,” Zebo said via a Munster Rugby statement announcing his departure at the end of the season.

“It has always been my dream to play for my home club, wearing the red jersey while representing my family, friends, and local community.

“However, I have always noted the draw to play abroad one day, and in not taking this decision lightly, I have decided on what’s best for my family. With my partner Elvira and two young children, Jacob and Sofia, we are planning for our future and this is the right time for us to make the move.”

Munster feel they could have done no more having offered terms they and the IRFU are unable to match despite both the province and the union making every effort to retain the player with substantial improvements made to his existing deal.

Munster Rugby CEO Garrett Fitzgerald described “an excellent offer”, adding: “While we are largely successful in retaining our best players within the Irish system, we know it is out of our hands on this occasion.”

The consequences could be serious in terms of Zebo’s international career. Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt may put the wing/full-back in the same indispensable bracket as Johnny Sexton, who spent two years at Racing from 2013-15 and remained the first-choice Test No10 through it all. Or he could toe the line he and performance director David Nucifora drew in the sand and decide not to favour overseas-based talent over homegrown, IRFU- and provincially-contracted personnel as he hones his plans for the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

That policy has left players such as fly-half Ian Madigan and tighthead Marty Moore under no illusions that when they decide to move abroad, they are effectively kissing goodbye to their international careers for the duration of their contracts in France or England.

While still a Munster player, Zebo seems likely to play a part in Schmidt’s plans for the rest of the season and add to his 35 Ireland caps, particularly with injury problems at full-back to Rob Kearney and Jared Payne ahead of next month’s Tests against South Africa, Fiji, and Argentina.

Yet he will have made a judgement call that as fulfilling as Test rugby has been for him, not least in playing a pivotal part in Ireland’s historic first victory over the All Blacks last November, the advantages of a life in France for the son of a French citizen outweigh the advantages of staying put.

Nucifora recently made great play of the success of the IRFU’s player welfare programme in helping to maintain high rates of retention when contracts come up for renegotiation.

“A lot of them will be (retained),” he said last month. “Hopefully we can continue to maintain our high retention rates. We’re realistic. We know we won’t always retain everyone. People have different motivators as to why they might be looking for a change or to leave and you can’t always manage those things. But to the best of our ability, we make sure that the players are the centre of what we do and are very well looked after, so when decisions are to be made around where they want to play their rugby, we’re investing a lot of money into making sure that they’re very well catered for, that they can be the best that they can be and they can play the game for as long as they possibly can at the highest level.”

Those benefits, and the promise of extended careers from protected, IRFU-monitored workloads in the provinces, have kept the majority of Ireland’s best and brightest onshore. And if Zebo is the only Irish frontline star to leave and Nucifora manages to pin down the futures of Munster’s Peter O’Mahony and CJ Stander in this latest cycle of deal-making, then the IRFU will consider it a negotiating job well done.