Saturday will be a special game for Simon Zebo and his extended Irish-French family, the first time this son of a Martinique-born French athlete will have played against Les Bleus at Test level. Long since familiar with La Marseillaise, Zebo is, assuredly, the only player lining up before kick-off who will know the words of all three pre-match anthems.
In his early years, Zebo good naturedly admits there were split loyalties in his family when they watched Ireland-France games, with his dad Arthur kitted out in his blue French jersey and beret, as much, Zebo reckons, to get a rise out of his Cork granddad as anything else.
Zebo himself would fluctuate between the two. "Depending on who was winning I would jump on the winning side," he says, smiling as ever. "The older I got, the more I wanted to represent my country and that's Ireland. "
“I was born here. Hurling and football has always made me a little more Irish than French. I have always felt Irish and have always wanted to play for Ireland and, lucky enough, I have been able to do it.”
Unique fixture
In any event, this is a unique fixture for Zebo and his family. “Yeah, definitely, a lot different. It is my first time playing them at senior level and it will be a special day for my family. My da will be wearing his French jersey and the rest of my family will be in green,” he says with a chuckle.
“Nah, it will be unbelievable, all my French family are coming over for the game and it will be a great occasion.”
By this he meant cousins, uncles and aunts from all over France, be it Paris, Toulouse or elsewhere. Zebo interested Toulouse a couple of seasons ago before he re-committed to his native Munster, and on Saturday will most likely come up against one of the more consistent performer for Toulouse and France in the last couple of seasons, Yoann Huget.
“He is a brilliant player,” says Zebo. “I looked up to him a lot. He has got everything; serious work-rate, pace, unbelievable finisher. He is just a great player and we’re going to have to be on top of our game to keep him nullified.”
He describes French wingers generally as being “like outside centres with a lot of pace. They have got really good skill sets and they can offload and put in little grubber kicks with ease. They just look to continue to play all the time. You think they are running down a blind alley and they are not, the ball is slipped in around the back door into someone else and the game is continued. They bring a lot of flair and offloading ability and deadly finishing, all in one. They are a dangerous combination.”
Having grown up admiring both Ireland and France, and wingers like Christophe Dominici, Zebo admits: “I suppose I’m probably a little different to the stereotypical Irish winger. I don’t know how to put it. I have French blood in me. I’ve always admired the way they play. I’m half-French, so it is a little different to answer. The way I describe the French boys is the way I like to play my rugby.”
His approach hasn't always fitted in with Joe Schmidt's plans and Zebo was on the outside looking in last season, when the Six Nations culminated with Ireland's win in Paris. He admits he's had to improve aspects of his game, such as "accuracy around breakdown, high balls, not being sloppy, cleaning up scraps, having more bite in the tackle".
Clip his wings
He denies that the Irish coach has sought to clip his wings, as it were, and maintains that the offload against Australia which Michael Foley batted down in the prelude to Nick Phipps’ try was down to good defending by Foley.
A further case in point was last Saturday, when he went looking for the ball in midfield, either to truck it up or put more width on Ireland's game, notably with the pass of the day to release Jared Payne on the left.
“It’s just helping out the team-mates. When it’s on to go wide, if it’s not coming out for any other reason and I feel I can help and spread it a little bit, I’ll definitely go and do that. I get bored easily when I’m just standing out on the wing all day. That’s not how I like to play rugby. I like to get my hands on the ball as much as possible and help out any way I can. I ended up taking a few forward carries as well in trying to be occupied but the ball started to come out wider.”
In other words, he’ll keep on playing to his Irish-Gallic instincts, and this Saturday will certainly be no different.
