The two biggest talking points ahead of the Autum internationals have unquestionably been the future of the careers of Simon Zebo and Bundee Aki in an Ireland jersey.
Aki's selection via the residency rule and Zebo's omission due to the policy regarding the selection of players playing (or planning to play in Zebo's case) outside of Ireland has caused a lot of debate and disagreement but the decisions have been made.
In the case of the Connacht centre, Aki has been picked as he is eligible and his inclusion makes our team stronger, but with the Munster man watching from home it is frustrating for many as a player with such attacking qualities will not be picked following a move to France.
Ronan O'Gara was speaking on RTE's coverage before kick-off against South Africa on Saturday and he made it clear that Zebo should be going to the World Cup.
Ronan O'Gara on Simon Zebo: "He's a striker, if you look at it in footballing terms, for me he's not far off Neymar in terms of what he can do."
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) November 11, 2017
O'Gara passionately argued that the results of the Irish team matter more than anything else, and that Zebo's desire to test himself in France should not be a factor when determining whether or not he should play, but rather his skills.
After making the comparison to Neymar, which would have raised a few eyebrows even among Zebo's biggest fans, he claimed that if we have any aspirations of winning the World Cup, Zebo should be in the squad.
He's not suggesting that Simon Zebo is the difference between Ireland winning a World Cup or heading home after the quarter-final stage, but that we need to be selecting the best players available to us if we want to win the thing.
It is not likely to make a difference, as the IRFU seemed to have nailed their colours to the mast on this matter, and Zebo himself seems to be fine with the decision judging by his recent activity on Instagram.
