Munster's great showman Simon Zebo intends on bowing out with a bang

PERSONALITY AND PROWESS: Munster’s Simon Zebo at Thomond Park last Saturday. Pic: Dan Sheridan, Inpho

Whenever the time comes for Simon Zebo to finally bid farewell to Thomond Park in the next few weeks, the Munster star will do so with “zero doubt” he has made the right decision to call time on a glittering career.

If there are regrets, they are that his talents, and exuberant personality, were not showcased more than the 35 times he was picked for Ireland, but the 34-year-old is otherwise satisfied that not only has he enjoyed a career with Munster, Racing 92, the national team and the British & Irish Lions that his self-confidence as a younger man would have predicted but also that it will end on his terms, in blistering form and with silverware in his sights.

Yes, this Friday night’s URC quarter-final at home to Ospreys could be the last game of a 15-year stint as a pro, but if Zebo has his way there will be three more Thomond Park curtain calls before Munster’s record try scorer exits the stage for the final time, with a winner’s medal around his neck.

In his own words, as he sat down with the media on Tuesday at Munster’s High Performance Centre at the University of Limerick, Zebo came in with bang and he intends to go out the same way.

“I am playing well. The Saturdays are the easy part, it’s the training. I have a lot of miles on the clock and I notice the joints.

“My body has been speaking to me for a while now and I’ve been trying to stay healthy and playing week after week has been challenging the past year-and-a-half. I’ve had a good run of games.

“At the start of the season, in my head, I was like if I can get back to playing consecutive matches and finish on a high, that’s the way I’d like to go out.

“I’ve always said in interviews throughout my whole career, it’s funny how it comes to fruition, I’ve always said 34 would be a good age because that’s when Dougie Howlett retired and he was a big hero of mine.

Munster’s Simon Zebo celebrates after the Ulster game. Pic: Dan Sheridan, Inpho

“I was like ‘Why are you retiring now Dougie?’ And he was like ‘When you know, you know.’ Coming into this season, I knew it was going to be my last.

“It’s nice that I am playing well and showing that I still have it but I think it’s the right time to call it. I don’t need to be the 35/36-year-old full-back who is not involved or coming off the bench and my body is letting me down and just kind of be fading out.

“I came in with a bang and I’d like to go out with a bang. Playing well and healthy and that’s the way I’m going.” 

Despite the invitations from those nearest and dearest to look back on a rich and memorable career, Zebo is still hungry for what lies ahead in his few remaining minutes on the pitch.

“Incredibly proud. My parents were trying to dwell on it a bit and talk to me about how amazing my career was and how everything I said when I was young boy, I was able to achieve, which is really special, but it would obviously be even more special to finish with a trophy now.

“There will be plenty of time to sit back and look at my career, but I’m incredibly proud. Playing for Ireland, the Lions, Champions Cup try-scoring record, Munster’s record holder – all things I couldn’t have dreamed of.

“A huge part of my career was always wanting to go to France and experience the Top 14, which was incredible. Some of the best years of my whole career were in France.

“Loads of highs and lows obviously, something to look back on in time, but even right now I can say I am incredibly proud of what I’ve done.” 

Zebo insisted there were no regrets, though it is clear he feels his talents could have been better utilised at Test level with Ireland. 

A Six Nations winner in 2015 and starter and try scorer under Joe Schmidt in the historic first victory over New Zealand in Chicago in November 2016, the large majority of Zebo’s 35 caps came under the Kiwi head coach but he was not selected by him beyond the summer of 2017 and left for Paris 12 months later.

He did not name names but the following back and forth that took place on Tuesday tells you as much as you need to know, despite Zebo’s reticence to spill the beans.

Should you have played more for Ireland?

“Well, I think I should have,” he said. “It’s a hard one, yeah, it doesn’t linger with me, no. I would have loved to but it is what it is.” 

It was put to him that things may have turned out differently had current Ireland boss Andy Farrell been at the helm when he was a younger man.

“Oh yeah. Completely different. You see how Mack Hansen behaves, other people, and they’re totally comfortable and at ease. I was doing that when it was different, let’s just say that.

“It’s funny, I love Andy and I’ve always loved working with him, all the way back to the Lions and… I don’t know how to say it, it might have been different if… or, I would have loved to have had more time with him.” 

That is the way Munster supporters feel about their hero, the player whose name reverberates around Thomond Park more than any other.

“The bigger the lights, the bigger the crowd, the more the pressure, that’s what I feed off.

“It is an incredible relationship. It’s hard to describe, there’s such an energy there when I get the ball or when something happens, like, little interactions with kids or people on the sideline, it’s just so special and I think the crowd can tell how much it spurs me on and how much it gives me energy.

“I feed off them so much and they give it back to me in spades and that’s probably the one thing I’m going to miss the most, that support, or love, or craic amongst the supporters. It’s incredible and it always helps if you score a try and the chants start coming. That feeling is like a drug, it’s incredible. It makes me want to do something every time I get the ball.

“I’ll miss Thomond Park a lot, for sure.”