No divided loyalties for Irish star Zebo

– The French rugby team still have the ability to strike fear into their opponents, Irish wing Simon Zebo (left) admitted ahead of their much-anticipated Six Nations clash today.

Zebo, born in Ireland to an Irish mother and a French father hailing from the Caribbean island of Martinique, warned that should the French side turn up in a positive frame of mind then it could make for a helter-skelter game.

“I still think there is a bit of a fear factor around playing France because if they show up and turn the switch on, which they can do, they can beat anyone and cause havoc against any defence so, yeah, the fear factor is definitely still there,” said the 26-year-old Zebo, who has only faced France once before in his previous 30 Test appearances.

“But if we focus on ourselves and give our best performance, I think we’ve shown against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and France in the past, we can stick it with any team.”

Zebo, whose father was a topclass 800 metres runner and would have competed for France at the 1976 Olympics but for breaking his leg during his military service, admits there will be some blue shirts hanging in his house’s cupboards this weekend as his French part of the family come over.

However, he insists there are no divided loyalties on his part and is clear about which of the games in the Six Nations counts for him the most, being an Irishman.

“England would be, there’s a big history being Irish,” said Zebo.

“For me personally with the family side of things, it would be a big game, playing the French.”

Zebo has scored just one of his seven Test tries in the Six Nations. – AFP