If you want to get in Joe Schmidt’s good books then you need to meet the man’s high standards.
The Ireland coach is constantly placing demands on his players to improve, and few have been challenged quite as much as Simon Zebo.
A gifted athlete and lethal open-field runner, the Munster wing quickly realised that pure God-given talent would not be enough to win a place in the New Zealander’s side, with the ability to follow his gameplan and excel at the basics the necessary steps to be taken before being able to let the rest of your game blossom.
Zebo has had to knuckle down, but the 25-year-old’s increasing maturity was on display during last season’s triumphant Six Nations campaign and today’s display against Scotland was yet another test for him to pass.
Felix Jones is the presumptive back-up to Rob Kearney, and has done little wrong in pressing his own claims for selection, but Zebo’s selection at full-back would indicate that Schmidt would perhaps like to avoid taking a second specialist at the position if he could avoid it (Jones can fill in on the wing in a pinch, but all his best work for Ireland has been done at 15).
Schmidt has other options, including Ian Madigan and Dave Kearney, but Zebo took on the challenge and delivered an excellent display of full-back play against the Scots, earning the official man-of-the-match award.
The demands will remain, of course, this is still Joe Schmidt in charge, and he will be sure to express his displeasure at a silly penalty conceded for charging into a ruck like a bull and going straight off his feet.
But he claimed every high ball that came his way and coped well as the last line of defence, notably doing enough to clip down the flying Tim Visser after the wing had scythed through the Irish line.
Those are the basic requirements of the position. But where Zebo offers something different, the clichéd X Factor, is with the ball in his hands. At full-back, he had the freedom to enter the line at will and did so to devastating effect, targeting weaknesses in the Scottish defence and leaving them for dead.
Schmidt has an abundance of options at his disposal in the back three, with Rob Kearney and Tommy Bowe nailed on as starters and Jones, Fergus McFadden, Andrew Trimble, Dave Kearney, Luke Fitzgerald and even Keith Earls able to man at least one of those positions, but Ireland have often gone for the steady option in the past but a World Cup where you are being talked of as a genuine contender is not the place to play it safe.
Zebo has the potential to be a match-winner off Ireland’s bench and has the personality to thrive on the big stage. He has shown he deserves the opportunity to pass that test too.
