Fun boy Zebo ready to get serious

For any man who can cover 9.4 metres of ground per second under their own steam, carrying a rugby ball, suggestions of being too laid back appear somewhat incongruous.

Yet Simon Zebo has been battling the accusation for much of his young career.

At least, it is the negative connotations to which he objects and claims has sometimes worked against him. There is no denying the Cork man is laid back but he does not equate having fun with being unprepared to work hard at his game, just the sort of trait that was yesterday rewarded with selection for his RBS 6 Nations debut against Wales in Cardiff on Saturday.

“People’s perception might be that you don’t take it seriously but I started playing rugby because I enjoyed it and I wanted to have fun,” Zebo said yesterday after hearing the news he will earn his fourth Ireland cap this weekend, starting on Ireland’s left wing.

“If I stopped having fun, then I’m going to stop playing rugby. If anybody wants to look at that as a negative, then let them look at it that way and be bitter. I’m having fun, I’m enjoying my rugby and hopefully keep playing and playing well.”

The key to that has been that hard work and desire to improve and back up that obvious raw talent. “My kicking, my high balls and defence would have been the three areas that I would have really had to work on coming into the professional game, the other aspects take care of themselves. I’d be very happy how they’ve come along.

“(Defence) comes down to making the right decisions but when you’ve players around you like Earlsy, fellas like your Mafis, Casey Laulala, you’re working on it day in and day out and you know how to read off them and as soon as you come into the professional game, then you feed off them and become better naturally.”

Ireland head coach Declan Kidney has been observing the 22-year-old’s career longer than most, stretching back to Zebo’s schooldays at his alma mater, PBC Cork, and while acknowledging that the work ethic has not always been evident, he believes it is now front and centre.

“I’ve seen Simon even further back from the time in my own school,” Kidney said. “He’s a fella who enjoys his rugby. Sometimes you wonder if a fella is just going to sit back on natural talent and just use that, but in fairness he has worked on his game, he’s willing to take on board the few things that are suggested to him, but by and large it’s up to a player to go away and work on his own game, and I think that’s what he’s done.

“He’s in a good spot at the moment. But I think it’s the way that he’s gone away and worked himself at it, and that he just hasn’t relied on natural talent, is always a good sign, and it gives him good possibilities to achieve some nice things.”

Those nice things, in addition to that blistering ground speed that has seen him clock 11.1 seconds for 100 metres, include a hat-trick of tries for Munster against Racing Metro 10 days ago, which helped his native province qualify for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals. The celebrations that marked his third try at Thomond Park were pure Zebo as he thumped the Munster crest on his jersey and saluted the crowds, a man on a mission to have fun. That, again, comes back to being laid back and Zebo confesses to being as relaxed before matches as he appears during and after them.

“I wouldn’t approach a Test match, a Rabo match or a Heineken Cup match with nerves. I just like to relax before games and I wouldn’t really think about the nerves or pressure.

“I’d be pretty confident in my abilities. There’s some hostile places you can go to but I suppose I’m just lucky I don’t get too nervous about stuff like that, I look at it as a great thing and not a bad thing. When you take nerves out of the equation, you just concentrate on your performance.”

Zebo, Rob Kearney and Craig Gilroy will form an exciting back-three against the Welsh at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

“It’s the potential to be a great backline,” he said. “We’ve been working real hard; hopefully we can execute and give a good performance.”