Search icon

Rugby

25th Feb 2015

Simon Zebo’s earliest Ireland vs England memory will make many of you feel very old

Way back in the mists of time

Patrick McCarry

Exactly what you would expect from a man in his early twenties, for the next three weeks anyway.

Simon Zebo took us not so way back this afternoon as he recalled his earliest Ireland versus England memory.

The winger, who turns 25 on March 16, has little recollection of Simon Geoghegan or Keith Wood’s famous try-scoring turns.

Instead, Zebo’s earliest recollection was Ireland’s 28-24 victory over England on March 18, 2006.

He told us, ‘The memory that stands out most is probably when Shane Horgan scored at Twickenham to secure a win there.

‘The only other one is me breaking my foot in the first 10 minutes in the last time against them in the Aviva [2013]. So, hopefully, I will have more memories like Shane’s [try].’

Looking ahead to Sunday’s clash with England, Zebo insists playing such a familiar foe does not make the occasion more or less special, nor change the fact that Ireland need to win.

He says, ‘Every game in the championship is a massive game and if we talked that way I think we’d slip up, because we’d have been looking to England since the Italy game. If you don’t take every game as it comes then you’re going to get left behind.

‘So, for us. it is obviously a massive, massive game. It is the next big step in the journey and where we want to go as a collective, and we know how well we’re going to have to perform to overcome the English.’

WATCH: Liverpool BOTTLED the title race 🤬 | Who will win the Premier League?