Simon Zebo: Stories about unhappy Munster camp 'not true at all'

Simon Zebo insists Munster is a "happy club" and that stories of an unsettled camp are "not true at all".

The list of issues surrounding the province this season is lengthy.

A senior coach suggested in December that a new club captain would be announced in a couple of weeks but there has been no confirmation of who will take over from Peter O'Mahony, who surprisingly stepped down from the role in November.

O’Mahony, the Ireland captain, is still not confirmed as a Munster player for next season. Last week Denis Leamy said a decision was imminent.

Out-half Joey Carbery is heading for Bordeaux next season, lock RG Snyman is relocating to Leinster, while the future of centre Antoine Frisch is uncertain after he declared for France last week.

Graham Rowntree’s side were dumped out of the Investec Champions Cup at the weekend, going down 24-14 away to Northampton, and it was revealed afterwards that the camp had been hit with illness building up to the match.

 

"I think a lot more would be made out of it in the media than it would be from us," Zebo told RTÉ Sport.

"Things like that, players move on all the time in clubs all over the world, that’s normal.

"We’ve had some moving parts, along with other clubs, but we don’t take too much notice.

"We are in our own bubble, we know what really goes on at the club and it’s a happy club.

"If we underperform in a game you could look to certain excuses and say 'this player is moving, is the camp unsettled?’ but it’s all false, it’s not true at all."

"We all get on extremely well, we all look forward to coming into work every day and putting our best foot forward.

"I’m sure there were those excuses last year that would have been on the table, and people would have been saying leading up to Christmas when results weren’t going our way and then we finished with a trophy at the end of the season."

 

The 34-year-old's contract finishes at the end of the season and he has previously suggested that it will be soon time for him to hang up his boots.

He first played for Munster aged 20 in 2010 and spent three seasons at Racing 92 between 2018 and 2021. The Cork native has scored 72 tries in 170 games for the province.

"I think in the next week to 10 days I’ll have definitely nailed down my decision, I’ll make that public," he said.

"But yeah, I’ve been humming and hawing for the past few months, unsure do I want to keep playing, what’s the body telling me.

"I said I’d wait until I get back fit playing. I got back last weekend, played 80 minutes, I need to see one or two more games but I’m leaning one way and that will be known very soon."

 

He also revealed that there were discussions with the Ireland camp prior to the Six Nations.

Andy Farrell was without the injured Mack Hansen and Jimmy O’Brien, while Andrew Conway and Keith Earls had both retired leaving Ireland short of experienced back-three options.

At the time, Zebo, capped 35 times, returned from an injury to impress in Interpro derbies and in Europe.

"I was playing some nice rugby in the big games, against Leinster, home and away, Toulon and Connacht," he said.

"I did have some contact with Andy and some of the other coaching staff but I then got a knock before Northampton, or just before the squad was announced.

"I would have been close but it just wasn’t to be in the end. I then got another knock that would have ruled me out anyway.

"I hadn’t had a great run of injuries prior to that as well so coming back in late, playing some really good rugby wasn’t probably enough. I probably needed another four or five games under my belt after having been out so long.

"It wasn’t to be, no hard feelings. I had good chats with Andy afterwards, nothing was ruled out, it was a case of going with younger lads for that experience in the Six Nations."

 

Munster, fourth in the table, head to South Africa next week for a double-header against the Bulls and the Lions as they bid to defend their BKT URC crown.

The week off gives Zebo the chance to meet up with old Munster and Racing 92 pals Ronan O’Gara and Donnacha Ryan, the La Rochelle coaches currently based in Cork plotting the downfall of rivals Leinster in this weekend’s quarter-final at the Aviva Stadium.

"I had dinner with a few of my old team-mates last night, some of the French lads," he said.

"ROG and Donnacha weren’t there but I am going to see them [Wednesday night] so I’ll pop over and give them our best wishes for the weekend.

"We’ll all be hoping that they have a good performance. It will be good to see them and catch them on this side of the world.

"Donnacha was looking forward to getting home to some Murphy’s here in Cork so I’m looking forward to seeing them and might have a pint with them, very low key."

There’s no surprise about which team Zebo will be supporting this weekend and he’s expecting a tight and tense battle.

 

"It will be a very physical game as it always is between those two sides," he said as Leinster bid to earn a first knockout win over the 2022 and 2023 winners.

"Leinster are in a good vein of form; they are playing some nice rugby.

"La Rochelle, for sure, are a bogey team and they beat them in the pool stages in La Rochelle but knockout rugby is completely different so I think if the game is close come 50-60 minutes it might be a nervy time for Leinster.

"La Rochelle seem to come into their own in these knockout games, back-to-back champions so nobody can refute their greatness.

"A lot of people have already written them off, especially up in Dublin but I think they’ll be quietly confident, especially with what they’ve done to Leinster in the last few [play-off] games."