Simon Zebo backs Ireland to reach Rugby World Cup final
CONFIDENT CUSTOMER: Devin Toner and Simon Zebo pictured at the Grey Goose pub in Drogheda. Pic: Andres Poveda
Simon Zebo has backed Ireland to have learned the lessons of past failures and go all the way to the World Cup final in the coming weeks.
Andy Farrell’s squad kick off their campaign against Romania in Bordeaux on Saturday with sterner Pool B challenges to come against defending champions South Africa and Six Nations rivals Scotland as well as a potential quarter-final meeting with hosts France or New Zealand.
Zebo, a member of the 2015 World Cup squad, believes the current squad is the best assembled by an Ireland head coach and best prepared for the rigours of an eight-week campaign that will hopefully climax with three back-to-back knockout matches.
The pitfalls are immense, not least that prospect of a last-eight date with Les Bleus in Stade de France but Zebo, promoting Heineken’s Green All The Way campaign in support of Ireland’s World Cup journey.
“I’d avoid playing France until the final if at all possible but I still fancy Ireland to be able to put together back-to-back performances against the best sides and get past that quarter-final for sure,” the Munster wing said.
“I fancy Ireland to go all the way to the final. We’ve got world-class players, great squad depth and a fantastic coaching team behind them. I’m all positive with regards to Ireland’s chances at this World Cup.
“What let us down in the past was when one or two starting players, for example Johnny, Peter O’Mahony, Paul O’Connell, they all missed that Argentina game (in 2015) and we probably didn’t have the depth to take the mantle and drive us over the line, bearing in mind that Argentina were fantastic that year.
"But as you see from the last 10 or 15 Tests when we don’t have those starters it’s a pretty seamless transition, and it’s a testament to squad depth that when other players get an opportunity they just seem to fit in and the performance doesn’t drop off in any way.
“That’s probably the most exciting part of it, you see the likes of a Jack Crowley, Craig Casey or Keith Earls even, step in, they all just seem to add their own game to the performance and not drop off either. So squad depth seems to be at an all-time high for us and it’s very exciting.”
Zebo is his usual jovial self as he explains the Green All The Way campaign, with a pub in each province set to turn that colour in support of Ireland’s World Cup bid, with assistance from a host of Ireland players also including Devin Toner, Donncha O’Callaghan, Peter Stringer, Sean O’Brien, Ian Madigan, Andrew Conway and Dave Kearney.
They could be pouring pints, working the door or in Zebo’s case, standing outside the Silver Key, on Cork’s Temple Hill remembering the good old days.
The pub will become the Green Key on Ireland match days and Zebo said: “It’s my local, so I’m very happy to hear they’re all aboard with Heineken. They’re going to be decking the pub out in all green, inside and out and creating an unbelievable atmosphere for all the games.
“It’s also the same place where I met my wife, outside the pub, so that’s most likely the spot where I’m watching all the games, reminiscing of young love!”
The former Racing 92 star added: “Obviously I’d love to be there as well with the lads but my body let me down last year for different reasons so it didn’t happen but now I’m able to put my supporters’ cap on, sit back and enjoy and hopefully something special’s just around the corner.
“It’s going to be fantastic and there’s going to be an incredible buzz created and Ireland have probably the best chance they’ve ever had to do something special. So it should all culminate into a fantastic tournament.”
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