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'He's the best... the only one who comes close to him is Cheslin Kolbe'
By Neil Fissler
Simon Zebo is backing French superstar Louis Bielle-Biarrey to become one of the game’s all-time greats and break the heart of his close mate Finn Russell and Scotland at Murrayfield this weekend.
The Bordeaux superstar has scored four tries in this season’s tournament on top of the eight he scored last season, and England were the last team to stop him scoring in a Six Nations game in March 2024.
He has crossed the whitewash 24 times in 25 Test matches, and former Ireland and Lions tourist Zebo believes that he could be one of the best of the lot, possibly only with the exception of the great Jonah Lomu.
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“He’s the best in the world, I think, by a good distance at the minute, in terms of wing play. I think at the moment, the only one who comes close to him will be Cheslin Kolbe. He’s at that level.
“He’s finishing, all-round game, not just his speed on the edge, passing, and defensive ability. His reading of the backfield. He is the all-round package. The gold standard setter when it comes to wing play.
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Premier Sports Simon Zebo
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“It’s crazy to think how young he still is, and scoring so many tries for fun and having a massive impact on the national team, which is already full of massive amounts of talent. He’s probably my favourite player to watch at the moment.”
Zebo believes that Bielle-Biarrey might be the master on the pitch, but he faces a fight to match the global appeal that the late All Blacks legend Lomu had off it.
“He mightn’t be the global figure that Jonah was. It’ll be very hard to compete with Jonah, to be fair, who was a one of one, actually.
“I’m sure Bielle-Biarrey will go down as one of the all-time greats, like some of my heroes like Brian Habana and Joe Rokocoko. Jonah is still another level, and prime Jonah Lomu was a cheat code.
“To change the game completely and have such a global impact so early on, and yeah, who to this day is probably the best to ever do it, you know, in most people’s eyes.
“So that’s a hell of a standard to hold Bielle-Biarrey to, but I do think he is an incredible player, and he will have an amazing career, smash loads of records; but Jonah was a one of one,” he adds.
Zebo believes that if Scotland are to win the game, it will need his former Racing 92 team-mate Russell to pull the strings from the very start.
“If Scotland are going to have a chance, any say in this game, you’d imagine Finn’s going to have a massive impact on that. So they’re going to need to keep that French back row at bay, keep them away from the ball.
“That will give Finn that extra second on the ball, as well as quick ball from the scrum half, allowing him to get the outside backs into the game, but it’s hard to see past the French this weekend.”
Simon Zebo is part of the Premier Sports team bringing live UK coverage of Scotland v France from Scottish Gas Murrayfield this Saturday in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations (Premier Sports 1 from 1.30 pm). Join in at www.premiersports.com @premSportsTV for more than 400 elite rugby fixtures every season, including EPCR, URC and Top 14.
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