He was never going to last the distance.
The Munster wing knocked the ball out in the first minute of Munster’s Champions Cup quarter-final after pressure from Chris Ashton.
While Zebo played on, he looked to be in real pain. After a while, as he hobbled around Thomond Park, it became abundantly clear that he wasn’t going to be able to see it through to half-time.
Then, after 24 minutes, Zebo was replaced, with the 28-year-old Cork native visibly and understandably upset with being forced off early.
Zebo is off to France in the summer to join Racing 92 so this may well be his final European game for Munster at Thomond Park.
The emotion from the player was understandable, but the reaction from the supporters told you everything you need to know about how highly they regard Zebo.
It was a beautiful and somewhat poignant moment, but one nobody wanted to see after Zebo’s contributions to the province over the last eight years.
So sad to see. Simon Zebo in tears as he goes off injured after 25 minutes.
Great ovation from the Munster faithful pic.twitter.com/V4OMTfiUU4— Pat McCarry (@patmccarry) March 31, 2018
