Simon Zebo: ‘I get bored when I’m just standing out on the wing’
It’s not your standard gentle opener either, but the sort of potentially awkward enquiry that normally gets held back, like a grenade with the pin already pulled.
He’s taken back to November, to the game against Australia when Ireland were 17-0 to the good and he flung an offload towards Johnny Sexton that was intercepted and returned for a try that changed the entire tone of the game.
Joe Schmidt isn’t exactly a fan of the extravagant, it’s suggested.
You’re known for your extravagance with the ball, he’s told. So, did Joe pop into your head when Bernard Foley slapped down your pass and Nick Phipps ran it back for five points?
The Zebo smile never wavered.
“No, not at all,” he said after a burst of laughter. “I was thinking ‘thank God there’s not another game ‘cos I’ll be dropped’! Ah, no, no. I don’t think of those things at all. You don’t have time to think like that on the pitch.
“You have to go on your instincts. That’s what I did. I like off-loading the ball and creating opportunities for other players as well. I think I’m quite good at it except it just didn’t work out on that one occasion.”
The inquisitors persist with the line of thought.
Do you have to curb your natural instincts playing for Ireland? No, he insists. So, are you encouraged to ‘go for it’ when something is on? Yes, he explains. Was it on that time? Yes, he believes and he explains why.
“Do you know, it was on ‘cos there was a dogleg in the defence. I spotted Foley come up out of the line and then there was space for Johnny, but he is a very clever player. A lot of other players would have just stayed and looked at Johnny.
“But, in fairness to him, he turned straight away and looked to slap it back. Not many players would have that quick thinking. It was good defence, I suppose, but I’ll continue to try these things if I see the opportunities.”
What shouldn’t be forgotten is that it was Zebo’s own try that kick-started Ireland that day. It was, in fact, his fifth in just 11 internationals and he showed again against Italy in Rome why he is worth his place in an Irish team that promotes structure over style.
Ireland eventually bludgeoned Italy into submission, but the most obvious signs of subtlety came from Zebo who instigated two penetrative forays out wide with the sort of footwork and passing that is all too rare in the modern game.
“It’s just helping out the team-mates. When it’s on to go wide, if it’s not coming out for any other reason and I feel I can help and spread it a little bit, I’ll definitely go and do that.
“I get bored easily when I’m just standing out on the wing all day. That’s not how I like to play rugby. I like to get my hands on the ball as much as possible and help out any way I can.”
His initial absence from Schmidt’s plans has been covered in detail before, so too the reasons why, but he has worked on those aspects of his game considered to be in need of improvement: accuracy at the breakdown, high balls and the oomph in his tackle.
All that has paid off though his calling card hasn’t changed.
“I suppose I’m probably a little different to the stereotypical Irish winger. I don’t know how to put it. I have French blood in me. I’ve always admired the way they play. I’m half-French, so it is a little different to answer.”
That heritage comes from his father Arthur who was born in Martinique and deprived of the chance to represent France at the 1976 Olympic Games in the 800m by injury. On Saturday, many of his family will travel from France to see his son face their country.
The Zebos have relatives in and around Paris, in Toulouse and in Martinique and the Cork-born Irish international admits to harbouring mixed loyalties as a youngster when he idolised the likes of Christophe Dominici before his heart was won over by his country of birth.
He watched last year’s championship clincher in Paris on TV and so has yet to face Les Bleus in a senior international. That alone demonstrates the speed with which his international career has moved on after a standing start under Schmidt.
A nifty piece of footwork in itself.
