Ireland’s unofficial, yet concrete policy of not selecting foreign based players has been one of the hallmarks of the Joe Schmidt era.
The New Zealander and the IRFU have taken a hardline stance against selecting overseas based players since the return of Johnny Sexton from Racing 92 in 2015.
Marty Moore, Gareth Steenson and Ian Madigan have all fallen victim to the policy after moving overseas, and the omissions of Simon Zebo and Tadhg Beirne from Ireland’s Six Nations squad provide another example of the policy at work.
Beirne, an EPCR Player of the Year nominee, was overlooked in the latest squad as a result of the inclusions of Ultan Dillane, Devin Toner, Quinn Roux, James Ryan and Iain Henderson, while in Zebo’s case, Jordan Larmour, Rob Kearney, Keith Earls, Andrew Conway, Jacob Stockdale, Fergus McFadden and potentially Joey Carbery have all been selected ahead of the Munster full-back.
From the outside, it looks like the IRFU are not showing any leniency with their ruling, with Beirne, a foreign based player signed on for Munster next season, and Zebo, a player based in Ireland who is signed for Racing next season, both overlooked.
The rationale behind both omissions were varied with Schmidt highlighting Beirne’s exclusion as a case of availability, while Zebo’s ostracisation has been penned to ‘not having a great day’ in Munster’s loss to Racing a fortnight ago.
Speaking of Beirne’s omission at Wednesday’s Six Nations launch in London, Schmidt told gathered media:
“It’s a complex one when they’re playing away from Ireland. He’s committed to coming back to Munster next year, which is super and we had a conversation at the start of the season about that happening.
“We had a really good conversation recently too. I think the problem with Tadhg is that with (World Rugby’s) Regulation 9, it’s a camp week this week, but that’s only a three-day camp week. So if we take him to Spain, we’re required to make him back available to Scarlets.
“He’s played around 1350 minutes already this season – our players don’t usually play that much. Now, I had a great chat with (Scarlets boss) Wayne Pivac and they’ve had injuries to Jake Ball and Lewis Rawlins, so that happens in squads sometimes.
“Because he’s so resilient and because he’s played so well – I thought he was huge in the last two games and in the Toulon game particularly – but he’s going to come in and visit us, and we’ll get to catch up again.”
His reasoning for excluding Simon Zebo, a player with six tries in 12 starts this season for Munster, was less complicated:
“He is in consideration like anyone else who’s currently playing in Ireland. I answered a question earlier about the balance we’ve got in our back three and we felt that Jordan [Larmour] was probably playing at a level that was appropriate to select him,” Schmidt said.
“I think Simon is great value to have in the squad and he’s got an irresistible charm about him, he’s always smiling and his positivity is great. But by his own standards, he didn’t have a great day in Paris (against Racing 92) a couple of weeks ago.
“There was some wayward passing, some turnovers that he’d look back at and be frustrated with himself. It’s crucial at the time of selection that we know guys are in good form. There’s a bit of time during the Six Nations with the Pro14 games that he can still strike a claim.”
Is Rob Kearney, who has played half as many games this season, with no tries no less, in better form than Zebo?
Is Joey Carbery, a player who has played 22 minutes since the November internationals, in better form than Zebo?
Is Jacob Stockdale, who got stood up three times by Leinster earlier this month, in better form than Zebo?
Zebo is the form full-back in Irish Rugby at present. While this is arguably the deepest Ireland’s back three has been during Schmidt’s tenure as head coach, and while Ireland can compensate for Zebo’s exclusion, to say his omission is based on one bad evening in Paris is a massive stretch, and if it’s not, is his omission really based on that one game?
Former Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll, the guy with four Lions tours and 141 international caps, said earlier this month that he would have Zebo as his starting full-back for the Six Nations opener against France.
How do the opinions of O’Driscoll and Schmidt differ so greatly? The second most capped player of all time thinks Zebo is the best full-back in the country and the national coach is making it out like he’s at least the eighth or ninth best back three option, if not, further down the pecking order.
And it’s not as if Schmidt has never been a fan of Zebo’s. He started him in all five games last season, and gave him a further 10 appearances across the 2013, 2015 and 2016 Six Nations.
What has been the difference between Zebo this campaign compared to any of the others? What could have possibly changed between then and now?
Firstly, Ireland’s depth has certainly improved, the likes of Dave Kearney, Craig Gilroy and Andrew Trimble are nowhere near the extended squad, never mind the matchday 23, but secondly, Zebo also had some less than flattering quotes about life in the Ireland setup under Schmidt in a recent interview he gave to French publication L’Equipe.
“With Munster, I’m free to try things, to play the moves that I see. I don’t have any shackles. Joe is a super coach who has had great success with Ireland.
“We already talked about it face-to-face. I said to him that I couldn’t play in such a rigid structure. I can’t play like that.
“Winning is important but for me it’s also important to do it in a certain way. But if you ask me to pick between losing in style or winning ugly, I’d choose the second option.”
He definitely can’t play in a rigid structure if he isn’t selected. You can’t play in any structure if you’re not selected.
I understand that Schmidt has to say something. That he has to come up with some answer for a question he knows will be asked.
But if you’re not going to admit to a home-based selection policy, an issue the IRFU has never publicly acknowledged exists, why use form as the excuse, especially when Kearney has scored no tries this season and Carbery has only played 22 minutes since November.
Kearney’s selection is very rarely judged on how prolific he has been as a try scorer, he usually excels in areas of the game that have nothing to do with scoring tries, but for an Ireland team that has scored five tries in four games in last year’s championship (excluding the 63-10 win over Italy), maybe it is something that should be given greater consideration, especially considering the lack of an attacking alternative there was when Ireland were held to just nine points in last year’s defeat to Wales.
Omitting Tadhg Beirne, and particularly Simon Zebo, may not have a sizable effect on how Ireland fare in this year’s Six Nations, but if you’re going to exclude Zebo, you need a better reason than ‘he didn’t have a great day’ in Paris.
If not for the fans, it’s the least he deserves as a player.
