Uninhibited Simon Zebo ready to make most of licence to thrill

Mavericks. Square pegs for round holes, the luxuries coaches feel they cannot afford. Most team sports have them, a Matt Le Tissier who can delight supporters with his skills but infuriate managers with the risks that inevitably come attached.

Rugby has had its fair share down the years, bobby-dazzlers such as Carlos Spencer, Quade Cooper and Danny Cipriani that catch the eye and grab the heart but ultimately fail to capture the minds of the people that matter most.

Reliability and consistency are more treasured assets by Test coaches, and who can blame them in their results-driven world?

For some, Simon Zebo is another such maverick, a glass half-full rugby hedonist who could not contemplate playing any other way but with his head up and damn the consequences.

The Munster and Ireland back does not deny his risk-reward mindset but understandably rails against that view of him which perceives a liability.

In fact, as the wing with a preference for the more open spaces at full-back prepares to play some part in this Saturday’s Six Nations clash with England, Zebo believes his way is the future, and he is on a path signposted by the success of the All Blacks and others at last autumn’s World Cup.

The critics may hone in on an offload that gets turned over and punished, such as Zebo’s against Australia in 2014 that led to a try, but the man himself would rather consider what might have been had it come off.

“It was one of those things that is in my DNA,” Zebo says. “I try and offload the ball, I try to keep continuity going and I take risks and that time Bernard Foley was clever enough to slap the ball back on his side and they ended up scoring a try that they probably shouldn’t have, considering that we had defenders there that were beaten.

“It’s not something that I was giving out about or targeted for, it’s one of those things that if Foley doesn’t slap it, down then Johnny (Sexton) could go under the sticks, so it was unfortunate enough that they scored a seven-pointer off it.

“It’s the risk involved,” he added, “and I’m happy to take those risks, it’s part of my game. I get excited at those opportunities and the possibilities because if you don’t buy a ticket, you can’t win the lotto so there’s no point in going into your shell and playing conservatively, in my opinion. I didn’t get f’d out of it so I’m happy to continue the way I play.”

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt is undoubtedly less cavalier but he clearly recognises Zebo’s talents even if he is not always ready to unleash them.

The more risk-averse Rob Kearney has been the clear preference at full-back for the games that matter, his injury allowing the Munster man to pull on the No. 15 jersey for the Six Nations opener against Wales before fortunes were reversed and Zebo became unavailable for selection six days later in France.

Today’s team selection, with both now available, will reveal the head coach’s own instincts but Zebo feels he did all he could against the Welsh to deserve another go at Twickenham.

“I felt like I played well, I attacked well, I got my hands on the ball, got over the gainline a lot, and things like that. There was one or two 50/50 high balls I didn’t reclaim but, you know, there is good competition on that Welsh team for going up for the high ball, it literally is 50/50. So I dunno, it just depends on what people consider a good game or a bad game. In my eyes, I was happy with my performance.”

Thinking about post-match criticism from coaching reviews serves no purpose in his on-field decision-making process because that woulds mean “playing with fear and it’s just a bad environment to play under”. Nor are the Ireland team pre-programmed to play a certain way, he insisted.

“If it’s on, you’re allowed to have a go and I think some players go with that a lot and some players play to their own strengths and do otherwise but collectively, we’re given licence to go out and play. I don’t think you’d see Mike Ross throwing skip passes or anything but at the same time we’re given licence to play heads-up rugby and hopefully we do that this weekend because that’s the way it looks like the game’s going, and the best teams are playing the best rugby.

“I’d love to be involved in a high-tempo game (against England) with lots of expansion. That’s when I’m at my most dangerous and hopefully I get a chance to be involved and impact the game with a positive nature.

“There hopefully is not a fear factor within the players. Offloads and the expansion of the game is something we need to try to get better at because that is how the best teams in the world are playing and getting a lot of success off and we want to be up there competing with the two or three best sides in the world.”

Doing it any other way is not in Zebo’s gameplan. The important question for him remains whether that matches Schmidt’s playbook.