Fitzgerald backs returning star Zebo for greatness

Munster welcome back Simon Zebo for tomorrow’s Heineken Cup clash in Edinburgh with chief executive Garrett Fitzgerald backing the Ireland wing to meet the challenge of becoming an even better player over the course of his newly-signed three-year contract.

Zebo, 23, rejected offers from France and the UK last week by putting pen to paper on a new deal that will keep him in a Munster jersey until the end of 2015-16 and he returns to a starting XV showing six changes, one of them positional, from the team beaten 17-6 by Cardiff Blues in Cork last weekend in the RaboDirect Pro12.

Donncha O’Callaghan and Peter O’Mahony also return while front rowers Mike Sherry and Stephen Archer recovered from knocks sustained seven days ago but drop to the bench, replaced by Damien Varley and BJ Botha respectively. O’Mahony comes into the back row at blindside, with Tommy O’Donnell switching to openside, replacing Sean Dougall.

It is Zebo’s return that really excites, just as his new deal stood out among the nine players extending their Munster careers, with head coach Rob Penney backing the Corkman to become a major part of the province’s future for a decade.

Fitzgerald, during a wide-ranging interview with the Irish Examiner, said he was delighted Zebo signed a three-year contract and believes he committed to the cause because it will help his continuing development as a player of outstanding talent.

“I wouldn’t single Simon out over any of the others because Simon is not that type of a person; he’s very much a team person,” Fitzgerald said.

“He’s also a very ambitious young man, he’s got an opportunity that for a number of years he thought he mightn’t get and he realises what’s been offered to him. He realises how he’s being managed here and how we’re managing his career.

“I’m sure his eye and his ear has been turned by certain things that have been offered to him abroad but he likes what he’s doing here, he likes the people who are managing him and it was great for us to get him to commit for three years.

“Simon wanted to put it to bed and get on with it, developing his career and not having to worry about it for a number of years. He along with several others are very important.”

As the poster boy for the newest generation of Munster supporters, capturing the very marketable Zebo’s signature represented the retention of a key part of Penney’s jigsaw but Fitzgerald added the Ireland wing still had work to do.

“The position he plays in, he loves to run and people like that and he does that really well. That’s one of his attributes and something he’s got to work a bit more at.

“He’s learning the position, about working different parts of the field and so on. He obviously has the ability to be here for 10 years but you get challenged every week you go out and you’re normally as good as your last game and normally people will have more bad games than good games.

“So it’s a challenge for him and for everyone and he just needs to take it over the two and three years and forget about the 10 years for now. But he certainly has that ability and as Gary Player once said, ‘the more I practice the luckier I get’.

“He attracted attention in France... and I’m sure there was an interest in the UK as well. But while he might have listened, from the conversations we had with him, he’s committed to Munster for now and it’s confirmation of that commitment that he signed up for three years. He wants to get on with developing his career.”