Zebo ‘absolutely over the moon’ to be heading to Australia

Simon Zebo didn't get a call from the British and Irish Lions before Ireland's nervy 15-12 victory over the USA on Saturday night because Simon Zebo took an ice bath the day before.

Then he jumped into the Hilton hotel’s swimming pool. Only then did he find his iSoak 5.

“Guy Richardson (Lions director of operations) was in contact with Mick (Kearney, Ireland’s team manager) because I jumped into the pool with my phone in my pocket,” he casually tells us at 11.30pm Saturday night.

“So I am out of a phone. Second hand news. Yeah, bad timing.”

Of course, it was perfect timing. He had seen the early rumblings on Twitter after Tommy Bowe’s injury and was struggling to black it all out.

But the 23 year old didn’t look like someone who just broke his favourite toy.

“I’m absolutely over the moon,” said Zebo, having just heard the news from Kearney when arriving into the hotel lobby after playing 74 minutes of his sixth Test match.

“It is the best news I could ever have dreamed of. As a professional rugby player the ultimate goal is to be a British and Irish Lion. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to do that if I get my cap. That is something I have to work towards now.”

Considering Bowe underwent surgery yesterday, after breaking a bone in his hand during the Lions 22-12 victor over the Queensland Reds on Saturday, while Rob Kearney is continuing to rehab a grade one hamstring tear, Zebois in line to feature against the New South Wales Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday.

He left Texas for Australia first thing yesterday morning, while his Irish teammates moved on to Toronto for the second and final leg of their North American tour.

Les Kiss confirmed that Ireland will not be calling up a replacement for Zebo. The unused Andrew Trimble is poised to come straight onto the wing to win his fiftieth cap against Canada next Saturday.

There remains a chance that Bowe could recover in time for the first test against Australia on June 22nd but, as in the case of English prop Alex Corbiserio coming in before Cian Healy's tour was confirmed to be over, for logistical reasons Zebo is needed as soon as possible.

>From an Irish perspective the call up seems a little overdue considering his solidity at fullback in November and a string of scintillating try-scoring performances for Munster over the past 18 months.

Then there was the Welsh game in Cardiff. That try. That flick. He probably lost out on initial Lions selection when breaking a bone in his foot against England on February 10th.

In the meantime, performances by Welsh wingers Alex Cuthbert and George North, as they clinched the Six Nations championship, along with the Scotland's Sean Maitland saw Zebo slide down Warren Gatland's pecking order.

Gatland was also keen to select Bowe once the Monaghan man proved his fitness in April.

“Yeah, the injury was a bit of a hiccup but I only missed a couple of games,” Zebo continued. “I was only out for six weeks in the end but I suppose the lack of international game time was a little bit of a setback, but that’s all in the past now.”

The guy knows only one direction. He will land in Sydney tomorrow thinking about facing the Wallabies.

“Hopefully I can show what I can do. You don’t get many shots at this so you just got to go out and back yourself. Give it everything you got because it doesn’t come around to often. Just be myself, get a few nice touches.”

And the People’s Republic can start watching the tour now one of their comrades has been called Down Under.

“Yeah, yeah, Corcaigh abú. You never know, maybe one or two more might come out. Peter O’Mahony has been playing well.”