'I've always considered him the most talented rugby player I’ve come across'
IT’S NOT OFTEN a sportsperson gets the dream farewell but Simon Zebo is just two games away from ending his professional rugby career with a URC medal won on home soil.
If the province can beat Glasgow Warriors in today’s semi-final, they’ll be defending their URC title at Thomond Park against either Leinster or the Bulls next weekend.
Another possible outcome is that this evening proves to be Zebo’s last outing in a Munster jersey, and in the home wins over Ulster and the Ospreys which followed the 34-year-old announcing his decision to retire at the end of the year, Thomond Park has at times felt like a Zebo love-in – with supporters conscious they have precious few opportunities left to watch one of their favourite sons in action.
Win or lose, one of the great Munster careers will soon be over.
There’s not many around the place who know Zebo better than Peter O’Mahony, with the two Corkmen first crossing paths on the playing pitches of Cork Con when taking their first steps into the game.
“Myself and Simon started together when we were five up in Con so we’ve the bones of 30 years under our belt now playing rugby,” says O’Mahony.
“It’ll be a strange one [when he's gone]. I know he had Racing but I’ve played every year with him other than that break he had.
“I’ll certainly miss him next year. I think he’s playing great rugby. He knows best, doesn’t he? He knows his body and he’s dead right, going out playing well. It was certainly one of the arguments I would have had, you know, you don’t want to fade away into the background and he certainly won’t be doing that, he’s playing well for us.
I’ve always considered him probably the most talented rugby player I’ve come across. Unbelievable rugby brain, rugby ability, unbelievable character, unbelievable person.”
Even after those all those years in the trenches together, O’Mahony feels he has seen a different side to Zebo this season, his old pal taking on more of a leadership role as the province surged from the bottom half of the URC table to finish the regular season top of the pile.
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“He’s been a real leader the last six months, I thought, since he came back in [from injury], starting to get picked again, which I hadn’t seen from him before, you know, speaking in meetings and stuff.
“You’d watch a clip and all of a sudden he’d come out with a point that you just weren’t looking at. He can see things a bit differently.”
Injury to Calvin Nash sees Zebo redeployed to the wing today, where he can still offer moments of magic but is perhaps less effective. At fullback Zebo has been a constant running threat, while his management of the backfield has been an important part of Munster’s excellent defensive record.
O'Mahony first played with Zebo almost 30 years ago.
“You talk to the back three lads and they’d always say that when he’s at fullback, the communication, the volume and the information that he gives is hard to come across anywhere else,” O’Mahony adds.
“And you see his positioning and stuff, rarely does he get caught out. Reading out-halves, reading body language, he’s one of the best in the world at it.”
There was a point where Zebo’s Munster return was threatening to prove underwhelming.
He made 13 appearances in his first year back from his three-season stay in Paris – comfortably his lowest return in a full season with Munster – and followed that up with just five outings across an injury-disrupted campaign last season.
This season Munster fans have seen more of the Zebo they remember. He only made two appearances across November and December but has been a mainstay of the side since January, his run of games in the starting team coinciding with Munster going on a 10-match winning run in the URC.
Even with the finish line in sight, the province’s all-time top try-scorer still feels an integral part of this Munster team.
“He’s infectious, infectious energy and he’s had a season where he’s just been available more,” says Graham Rowntree.
“He’s had frustrations around injury [previously] but I’ve seen a real professionalism in him and I’m chuffed for him that he’s going out on his terms, you know? Whether that’s Saturday or not, we’ll have to see, but he’s controlling it.
“You know, he’ll have another career, I’m assuming in media, and I think he’d be brilliant on that from what I’ve seen. We’ll miss him, that’s for sure.”
A couple of weeks ago Rowntree joked that not only do you know when Zebo is in the room, “you know when he’s in Limerick.” As we speak in Munster’s High Performance Facility at UL, the Corkman’s instantly recognisable laugh can be heard echoing through the building as music pumps from the team gym.
“You can probably hear him on the DJ set there,” says Gavin Coombes.
“I don’t know how much gym he is doing but he is definitely making noise anyway, hyping lads up. He’s a huge character in here and nobody has a bad word to say about him. You see the talent he has.
“He’s so talented and to have him back playing somewhere near his best is huge for us. He’s got this weekend in Thomond and I’m sure he’s looking forward to it, and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure it’s a good day for him.
“There’s not much we can say or do to convince him to stay. It will hard to replace [his energy] but we have a good group here. He’s one of a kind and he’ll be hard to replace.”