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Simon Zebo opens door to Ireland Test recall after signing deal taking him back to Munster from Racing

(Photo by Getty Images)

Simon Zebo has potentially vaulted himself back into the Ireland reckoning ahead of the 2023 World Cup in France after he agreed to re-join Munster from Racing on a one-year deal, making him available next season to be chosen by the national team boss Andy Farrell.   

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It was October 2017 when Zebo announced he would be heading to the Top 14 and while the deal didn’t kick in until summer 2018, he was immediately omitted from the Ireland squad by then-coach Joe Schmidt.

Frustrated by his dealings with Racing when Johnny Sexton was with the Parisian club, Schmidt opted not to pick any overseas-based players once the IRFU managed to re-sign Sexton in 2015 and it was that ‘rule’ which left Zebo surplus to national team requirement since he earned the last of his 35 caps in June 2017. 

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Wales out-half and Lions selection hopeful Dan Biggar guests on RugbyPass All Access

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Wales out-half and Lions selection hopeful Dan Biggar guests on RugbyPass All Access

The RugbyPass Offload co-host had spoken in recent times about his desire to get back involved with Ireland and had said on leaving Munster three years ago that it was his wish one day to rejoin the club. That has now come to pass, Zebo agreeing to a deal – co-funded by Munster and the IRFU – that will bring him back to Ireland in time for the 2021/22 Guinness PRO16 season.     

“I’m thrilled and honoured to be coming back home to play for Munster,” enthused Zebo. “My family and I have been so lucky to have enjoyed three incredible years with Racing 92 in Paris and I cannot thank the team there enough, I really have made friends for life and take with me some brilliant memories.

“However, as everyone knows, Munster holds a very special place in my heart and I’ve always said that I wanted to play for them and potentially Ireland again, so when this opportunity arose the lure of being close to home, family and friends and Munster fans, it outweighed all other options. I cannot wait to get back to the HPC with the team and hopefully a packed Thomond Park.”

Munster boss Johann van Graan was delighted to re-capture the services of the club’s all-time record try-scorer, the 31-year-old scoring 60 tries in his 144 appearances between 2010 and 2018. “The opportunity to bring Simon back to Munster came about in early April following a final review of our squad’s budgetary position for season-end and with assistance from the IRFU to support what we believe is a really good deal for Munster and Irish rugby.

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“Simon’s desire to return to Ireland and play with his home club is illustrated by his willingness to sign at a level below his market value elsewhere. This has made bringing the province’s all-time leading try-scorer back home possible.”

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J
JW 1 hour ago
Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

This piece is nothing more than the result of revisionist fancy of Northern Hemisphere rugby fans. Seeing what they want to see, helped but some surprisingly good results and a desire to get excited about doing something well.


I went back through the 6N highlights and sure enough in every English win I remembered seeing these exact holes on the inside, that are supposedly the fallout out of a Felix Jones system breaking down in the hands of some replacement. Every time the commentators mentioned England being targeted up the seam/around the ruck or whatever. Each game had a try scored on the inside of the blitz, no doubt it was a theme throughout all of their games. Will Jordan specifically says that Holland had design that move to target space he saw during their home series win.


Well I'm here to tell you they were the same holes in a Felix Jones system being built as well. This woe is now sentiment has got to stop. The game is on a high, these games have been fantastic! It is Englands attack that has seen their stocks increase this year, and no doubt that is what SB told him was the teams priority. Or it's simply science, with Englands elite players having worked towards a new player welfare and management system, as part of new partnership with the ERU, that's dictating what the players can and can't put their bodies through.


The only bit of truth in this article is that Felix is not there to work on fixing his defence. England threw away another good chance of winning in the weekend when they froze all enterprise under pressure when no longer playing attacking footy for the second half. That mindset helped (or not helped if you like) of course by all this knee jerk, red brained criticism.

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