Munster Team Talk Thread - Beirne After Reading

A more accurate comparison would be Ian Madigan who went to France two years before Zebo. He was left out of the tour to SA once his time with Leinster was done despite Schimidt having a complete blind spot for him. He was called up when Sexton was injured and then played a total of 12 minutes across 3 tests and was never seen in green again despite us being fairly screwed for outhalves later that year.

I don’t think that’s accurate, is it?

Maybe I'm hazy on the exact sequence of events. Stockdale would have burned past him either way and Zebo would have been back in the stands.

Yes, he was first choice in the 2016/17 season. Unfortunately for him, this was as much about the lack of alternatives rather than Schmidt suddenly being converted

Can we move the tedious Ireland sh1te to its more appropriate thread please .

It’s a closer comparison but Zebo was significantly more important to Ireland than Madigan ever was.

I had a look at the stats and it’s borne out by that; Zebo has 29 caps, 24 of which were as a starter. Madigan has 30 caps but only 4 as a starter.

It still doesn't change the fact that Zebo was more important to Ireland than Madigan. (And Madigan was also behind Paddy Jackson for the majority of that time too, fwiw, so pointing to Sexton for his lack of starts doesn't tell the full picture either). But ya, Zebo a superior player, imo.

Was Zebo more important to Ireland? Maybe, maybe not, but they were both supporting cast members. They both had their biggest moments in green thanks to the absence of a better option. It's harsh but true, they were both players whose marketability was never matched by actual ability.

It's debatable but ultimately irrelevant who was more important, the key thing is that neither were remotely important enough for the IRFU to change their policy.

Zebo had plenty of excellent games for Ireland, not least Soldier Field

Yep, but again, he was pretty much there thanks to the absence of a lot of other guys. Fitzgerald had retired a few months previously, Bowe was injured, Earls, Dave Kearney, McFadden all injured... the only other outside back in the squad was Craig Gilroy.

Within a month, when we played Australia and Earls was back, Zebo was on the bench again. When he started all the games in the 2017 6N, we were similarly drastically short of options. He was never a genuine first choice.

I honestly don't know if he was better than Madigan. I'm not sure that's much of an achievement tbh. I do know that neither of them were hard done by once they chose to leave.

And I think both their careers after leaving these shores and after they returned vindicated the IRFU and their provinces completely.

And, conversely, when Sexton got injured, it was invariably Paddy Jackson that Schmidt would turn to; that’s a large part of the reason Madigan has only 4 Ireland starts.

The most obvious of which being the tour to SA; Jackson played every minute of all 3 Tests at 10. Madigan got a total of 12 minutes off the bench, at centre.

Whatever way you slice it, Zebo was trusted more than Madigan. It’s cos he was a better player.