"People would write them off" – Simon Zebo: Former Ireland wing warns against handing England 'underdog' tag for Six Nations opener

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Former Ireland wing Simon Zebo has issued a warning, to anyone looking to write England off for the opening round of the 2025 Men’s Guinness Six Nations. Whilst Steve Borthwick’s side are considered the underdogs for their Round One fixture in Dublin, Zebo expressed how England could well surprise any complacent Ireland fans at the Aviva Stadium this Saturday.

There is no denying that Ireland have the greater expectation to win, as the back-to-back Six Nations champions set out to defend their title for a third year in a row. However, a tricky run of form for Ireland throughout the latest Autumn Nations Series, coupled with some potential alignment issues with Andy Farrell out of camp on British & Irish Lions duties, gives Zebo all the more reason to be watchful for an England upset win. Speaking to Ruck in an exclusive interview, Zebo said;

“The fact that England will be massive underdogs, you’d imagine people would write them off. They have some young talent, some amazing talents. They have Fin Smith, Marcus Smith, Chandler Cunningham-South, you know the Ben Earls. They have some absolute whopper players. So they can cause a lot of problems if they’re overlooked in the slightest way whatsoever.

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“So it makes for a cracking opening round, you’d still fancy Ireland too,but it’ll be tough to get the job done. We never know, there are Lions places are up for grabs, so it’s going to be a fantastic fixture. What better way than having England over to Ireland to crack it off?”

Whilst Andy Farrell will be away from the IRFU coaching box for the first time since 2016, the regular Ireland head coach could well be in attendance to scout out his prospects for the Lions tour of Australia. Stepping up in his absence is long term Ireland coach Simon Easterby, who makes the jump up from his regular assistant coach role for a crack at the helm of the national side.

Zebo is excited to see whether Easterby has any changes in store for the men from the Emerald Isle, or if he will play a straight bat in his alignment with Andy Farrell’s tactics. Either way, the former Munster wing is hopeful to see some young talents get an outside shout in the latter stages of the tournament, should Easterby need to make some injury enforced changes as the championship progresses.

“I’d like to see him give some younger fellas a crack, I know Andy will still be very much in communication, so I think it’ll be a continuation of what’s already happened. Hopefully a new voice and a new person in the hot seat for albeit a few months or whatever, but it could still make a massive impact, having a new person to impress and just a different energy around the camp.

“I hope it he’d continue giving younger lads a crack, like Sam Prendergast and Gus McCarthy, all these guys, keep giving them cracks. It evolves the attack. It seemed to be a little bit stagnant towards the end of the November series, where teams are figuring them out, and you’d like to see him kick on.

“I’d imagine very much of the same, very much a continuation from Andy, if they’re not on the same page after all these years and aligned in their visions or plans of the game, there’ll be something off. I think it’ll be similar, but it’ll be refreshing or a re-calibration for the players, having a new voice.”

Zebo continued to then discuss what potential ‘bolters’ he’d back for an inclusion in the Ireland squad, with an assortment of stars hailing from his beloved province of Munster.

“One player I think I’d love to get a would be Tom Ahearn. I’d love to see his form rewarded. I think he’s been a beast for Munster for a number of years now, I think he has the ceiling to be world class himself. John Hodnett as well, another top class young man, top class player. Very unlucky he hasn’t been given a shot either because of his form for Munster since the URC championship title winning team, and they’re run ing the competition, how important he was.

“Someone like Ben Murphy, or some young lads who are making a splash. I definitely have Tom Ahearn at the top of that. I think he could be one of the world’s best if he gets a clean run of form and some confidence given to him by coaching.”

The 10 shirt is an area of much deliberation for Simon Easterby, with Munster’s Jack Crowley set for a tug-of-war with young Leinster halfback Sam Prendergast. Zebo struggled to pick between the two exciting fly halves, and backs Easterby to make the right call for each match when the tough decisions come around. Zebo expects Crowley and Prendergast to be battling for the 10 jersey for plenty of years to come.

“The club form will be vitally important. They both have a similar enough phase profile to be competing with each other for a long time to come. Both have plenty of room for improvement, which is great, and just bodes well for Irish rugby. Jack, as I said, is a proven winner. A URC winner, a Six Nations winner. He knows how to lead teams to goals.

“Sam, unproven yet in that aspect, but the ability at Leinster is plain to see for everybody. So it’s going to be a fantastic battle over the years. Whichever option it is, come round one against England, it’ll be the right one for the job, the man in better form, the man who’s trained better, the man who wants it, he’s going to get it. So it’ll be very exciting.”

Even while Ireland enter the tournament amongst the leading sides for the title, the men in green certainly endured a ‘mixed bag’ of results throughout the previous Autumn Series. The defeat to the All Blacks set the tone for a difficult campaign, as Ireland struggled past Argentina and Australia, with just one convincing win coming in against Fiji. Zebo explained how the November Tests were an opportune time for Ireland to try new systems, and a trickier run of form may not have been the worst outcome.

“A bit of a mixed bag. With Australia, they (Ireland) were very lucky enough to win that game. I thought they (Australia) probably outperformed Ireland for a good chunk of that game, and they played really, really well, and nobody pictured them to cause as many problems as they did. Now, obviously the All Blacks loss, and I think it was a mixed bag.

“Now there were some new combinations in the starting lineups, and some players got some more exposure than they usually would have. Moving parts, but a mixed bag is not always the worst thing in the world, especially coming into the Six nations. Everything going all rosey for you is never a good thing either. Usually you get landed with a big shock performance, usually in one of the rounds.

“But no, they’ll be on their toes. I think they’ll know their performances and accuracy needs to go up a couple of levels. I think the fact that everything hasn’t been perfect might bode well for us in just the right thing, to get our act together. I suppose, a little bit and start firing some more proper shots.”

There is no denying that Ireland and France are the two front-runners to the 2025 Men’s Guinness Six Nations title, and Zebo expects Les Bleus captain Antoine Dupont to be eager to get his hands back on the trophy. Ireland have the potential to become the first side to win three consecutive Six Nations titles this year, yet Fabien Galthie’s France will leave it all on the line to re-claim their European crown.

“They absolutely can make that achievement (Ireland’s three titles in a row), and it’s one they’ll relish. It’s one they’ll love to point out, and another shot at history, and this Irish team is all about making history. They’ve done it so well over the years. I think the French team will have something to say about it, the Scots will have something to say and how important is round one.

“There is no easing in with those fixtures to come, Wales and Italy, I don’t feel quite at that level yet, but my goodness, there’s some cracking fixtures in there with France being the toughest fixture for Ireland, for sure. Antoine Dupont will want his title back!”

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