Simon Zebo is ready to don whatever jersey he is given on Sunday, when Ireland will seek to preserve their perfect start to the Rugby World Cup.
After bonus-point wins against Canada and Romania, the two-time reigning RBS 6 Nations champions face Italy next at the Olympic Stadium.
Victory will see them place one foot in the quarter-finals and Zebo is eager to play his part at the weekend.
“I’m prepared to play anywhere – I’m prepared to play fly-half if I’m asked to,” he said. “There will be no fear of that. As long as I’m on the pitch, I’ll be happy.
“It’s very close but that’s the way we want it to be and that’s better for the collective. There are a lot of world-class players in our back three division. Everybody is pushing each other on and hopefully that will help us to win games.
“Italy will be another notch up and we will have to match them from the very first whistle. Hopefully we can impose our dominance. If we don’t go into that fully prepared, we will leave with eggs on our face.
“They are a dangerous side. They can have a lot of flair at times and they can be a very aggressive team. We have to stop them getting forward momentum and hopefully nullify their attack because they are due a very big game in this tournament and we don’t want it to be against us.”
Zebo began this week by taking compassionate leave after his grandfather John Geary passed away in Cork and the 25-year-old insists he is already back in the swing of things.
“The lads were very quick in coming up to me and just saying how sorry they were,” he added. “Five minutes later they were making jokes and it was just great – they helped me take my mind off the tougher side of it.
“It was made easier by seeing the lads and I was able to snap back into it straight away and I trained pretty well today.”
