One of the most exciting players to ever pick up a ball in this country
Former Munster and Ireland star Simon Zebo retired from rugby at the end of last season.
‘Zeebs’, as he was known, was a rare breed in Irish rugby; a man who played to express himself on the pitch and bring flair to the game.
He ended up with 35 Ireland caps, and is Munster’s record try scorer with 73, despite a stint in France with Racing 92.
Having retired he has put his time into his whiskey brand, Black Emerald, and his four children.
Speaking on the first episode of the Beyond the Game podcast, with Paul Cahill and his former Munster teammate Jonny Holland, the winger opened up about a leg break in his younger days which threatened to derail his rugby journey, and how his mother’s battle with cancer inspired him to continue grafting.
When asked about the people who have shaped his life, Zebo answered:
Genuinely my immediate family, I think my sister, my mother, my father, and then three others, my uncle and two grandparents. They would have shaped me a lot because I think the strength and character.
And like we were talking off air a while ago about my mother. When I was 13 she got cancer and she still goes in for her mammograms today, and like when I was younger, she had lost all her hair and she had to wear a wig for a couple of years, and that was really hard.
That’s character building, that tests your strength, you know, you’re going into school happy out and you’re coming home bawling crying every day for over a year and a half.
And then the cancer goes away, it comes back, you know.
And my mom being like an absolute rock of a woman battled on and I felt stronger like I was watching her recover and you know, you feel like you mentally can take on anything.
“My uncle as well, after my leg break, was the one really to say, ‘you are good enough’ and have a real one on one intimate conversation and say ‘this is what you’ve got to do if you want to be this, you know, you can’t just mope and cry and feel sorry for yourself’.
“And my dad as well, has always given the confidence to be yourself.
“He’s a kind of an outgoing person as well, a character….. Whether it’s racial abuse, I could always go back to my dad and he’d always be the one to tell me, walk away or stay calm.
“Lots of things would test your character from a young age… and my sister was like my best friend.”
