Zebo ready to take it to the next level

Simon Zebo’s career has been honed on try scoring, not at all unusual for a left winger.

But Zebo has been working behind closed doors to add another dimension to his game that he hopes will help him turn into a world-class international winger.

He had a taste of Test rugby after making his debut for Ireland against New Zealand last summer, following a brilliantly effective first season for Munster in which he finished the province’s 2011/12 leading try scorer.

There is no doubt he wants the habit of scoring to continue but realises to make it to the top, he will have to add some more strings to his bow. And that’s why he has been working feverishly on perfecting other parts of his game.

“I see fielding the ball is a huge thing but a key element is being able to kick well, from a back three perspective and making my tackles.

“You don’t want to be putting the team in bad positions by missing tackles. Hopefully it is showing and I’m happy with my defensive work.”

The 22-year-old acknowledged this was a work in progress, from both a personal and collective point of view, but was disappointed at the outcome in the Liberty Stadium last Saturday.

“We just didn’t show up on the day,” he said.

“We learned from it that there’s no room to leave physicality behind you. That’s something we base our game on and we need to bring that into this weekend for certain.”

Although Munster sometimes suffered at scrum time and off the back of a powerful Ospreys maul, Zebo declined to point the finger of blame at anyone.

“There was no finger pointing but there was a lot of owning up and that was forwards and backs together. We passed up on opportunities when players had got into the right positions. We just felt we let it out there. We didn’t show up and at this level you can’t afford to start playing 20 or 30 minutes into a game. You’ve got to do it from the first whistle.”

Zebo sees every game as a challenge and opportunity and he is particularly excited about being given a chance to take on Heineken Cup champions Leinster at the Aviva Stadium.

Bar a couple of training runs with Ireland in the national stadium prior to the New Zealand trip, it will be his first opportunity to play there and he relishes the fact it will be in front of a full house.

“It’s a huge game for all of us,” says Zebo.

“Leinster are obviously a very good team and we’re going into the game off the back of a not very good performance.

“Clearly we will have to up our display if we hope to come away with a win.”