Simon Zebo has warned his Munster side of the threat posed by the Saracens wing Chris Ashton, who will seek to become the highest try-scorer in Europe in the Champions Cup semi-final in Dublin on Saturday.
Ashton, who has scored 13 tries in his 12 appearances since returning from suspension in late December, pulled level with Vincent Clerc on 36 European tries with a double against Glasgow in the previous round. He also came off the bench on Sunday to score Saracens’ first try in the victory against Northampton and ensure his side will arrive at the Aviva Stadium after four successive wins since the return of their England contingent.
“I really like Chris Ashton as a player – he is quality. He has a massive work rate and he gets on the end of moves and line breaks and he has the knack of scoring tries, which is evident in his try-scoring record,” the Munster wing said. “He is a classy player and a very dangerous operator with the ball in hand and he will be one we will definitely be trying to nullify as best we can. He is a world-class finisher.
“Everybody on the pitch will have to be wary of that. He comes off his wing a lot and likes to pick off trail lines of the No10 and No9. Every team can do enough analysis but you have to be able to stop it on the day. He will be one of their dangerous threats and they have got loads of threats across the backline.
“It is just going to take us playing to the best of our ability. Saracens are defending champions and they are an unbelievable side. We will show them respect but we will give it our best shot.”
Munster are contesting their first European Cup semi-final for three years and, just to make their life all the more difficult, Conor Murray is not expected to feature owing to a shoulder problem sustained during Ireland’s Six Nations defeat by Wales. “He is the best No9 in the world, I think that is pretty obvious,” Zebo said.
“We have got a lot of depth in our squad – Duncan Williams is a classy operator, a quality player. He is a different style of player to Conor. You lose some things with Conor but you will gain things with Duncan.”
Saracens will call on the Vunipola brothers, Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje, none of whom started against Northampton. All four were involved when England lost in Dublin during the Six Nations but Zebo, on the wing for Ireland that day, does not expect it to have any bearing on the semi-final.
“It’s totally different,” the 27-year-old said. “It’s different teams, different coaching staffs, different game plans – there are a lot of factors which say otherwise. In terms of psychological advantage they’ll probably have one because they have been red hot for a couple of years.”
