The rumoured return of Simon Zebo to Irish rugby has been confirmed on a 1 year deal which has been co funded by the IRFU. He has spent the last 3 years with Racing 92 and arguably he will return to Munster a better player than when he left in 2018.
He also has a stated aim to break back into contention with Ireland and add to his 35 caps. His return is also aided by the news that Ian Costello will return and take over as Munster Academy manager from this July once his time with Wasps has come to a close.
Both men will return to Munster with better rugby knowledge than when they left in 2017 and 2018 respectively. It will be very interesting when Munster decide to employ Zebo as he has played both wing and full back while in Paris.
Munster has now assembled a string of back 3 options for season 21/22. It really is time for all that investment start to pay dividends.
Time is starting to run out for a certain section of the Munster playing squad with experience like Billy Holland and Tommy O Donnell exiting stage left.
It is time that Simon Zebo took on a leadership role within this group and with the emergence of the likes of Gavin Coombes, Thomas Ahern and Craig Casey the next crop of young talent will need steady heads within the playing group to help them bring Munster to the next level.
Ian Costello will need to bring the academy up to scratch in the next year or two as Munster will need to produce a few more players and he will need to cast the net wide to make sure they bring in the correct people through their system and underage teams.
There is a big job for Ian Costello to get stuck into from this summer onward and his time with Nottingham and Wasps should help him shape his vision for Munster going forward….