Open season for a flanker with attitude

Two years ago David Wallace had almost had his fill. Munster's all-Shannon Quinlan-Foley-Halvey back row were proving a tough nut to crack. Meantime, Leinster were offering him their number seven shirt. For career purposes, the young man thought seriously about heading east.

To compound matters, David Corkery and Ken O'Connell were returning home. The end of the tunnel seemed as dark as the beginning. Nevertheless, Munster coach Declan Kidney advised him not to leave, as did fellow player Killian Keane.

"I thought about moving. I remember chatting to Declan and he thought obviously I should stay, and that I might be making a mistake. So I thought maybe I shouldn't be running from it. If I can break into that back row it's just going to be a huge step; something to aim for. So I decided to stay and I really worked hard."

Phew, was that a right call. "Yeah, in hindsight," he laughs. "When you hear about the queues outside Thomond and down in Cork, you could go through your whole life and never experience anything like this. It's just something very special."

Given his chance in the first game of last season in a 31-20 win over Leinster at Temple Hill he hasn't looked back, playing in all of Munster's last 28 competitive games save for being rested in a dead rubber against Connacht. A fine Ireland `A' campaign led to a debut against Argentina and a second cap alongside his brother Paul in the record-breaking win over the United States last summer.

The youngest of the four Wallaces has always maintained there was never any pressure from within or outside a family which included two elder Irish Lions. Even if there was, you'd sense the quiet, softly-spoken one would be too easy-going to notice. He seems a curious hybrid of two of his brothers; Richie the skinny, quick winger, Paul, the bulkier prop who joked he was quicker to the table.

Sailing and rugby were always the favourite topics at the dinner table discussion. "There was always a match on or something and then moving to Limerick (from Cork) I was totally surrounded by it."

Games in the back garden were of a higher standard than most. "I was in fifth or sixth year after the World Cup when Paul and Richie were involved and I remember beating Paul in a game of one-on-one, and then Richie the following week. So I was pretty delighted with myself. There'd always be a ball or a broken window."

Having watched either or both of his brothers throughout his teens he claims he never enjoyed watching a match, but destiny called him. Wise old Garryowen sages have long regarded the youngest of the Wallaces as the best of the lot. With each upgrade all the signs were there.

After winning and losing schools finals with Crescent, the highlights of two years on the Irish under-21s were back-to-back wins over England - the second gutsily earning a Triple Crown at Richmond, the first yielding a famous win at Greystones three years ago over a highly-rated team coached by Clive Woodward. At 21-27, Ireland moved into the last play in injury time with a close-range scrum. Wallace had been moved from flanker to number eight after the late withdrawal of Simon Easterby and had already scored one try.

A back-row move was called, but when Wallace picked up at the base he saw the England fringe fanning out, dummied and arced inside to score under the posts. With the last kick, Richie Governey converted for a 28-27 win. Irish smiles had to be surgically removed afterwards.

The then Irish under-21 coach, Eddie O'Sullivan, recalls: "That was typical of Wally. Over the first three or four strides he's an incredibly dynamic runner, and more often than not beats the first-up tackle. He has huge strength and pace, and he's added to his game since."

On the infamous Ireland A/Development tour of New Zealand in the summer of 1997, Wallace was a rare success, actually playing in all seven matches. Yet he remained a victim of his back-row versatility and was carrying an ankle injury and extra weight before aggravating the injury in South Africa a year later.

Being overlooked for the Ireland tour to Australia in the summer of 1998 was a big personal disappointment, possibly his biggest, but it was the catalyst for his emergence with Munster.

"It was the first time I ever had an off-season. I'd never really done a couple of months good work, which really holds you in good stead for the start of the season. So I worked really hard and it went well."

It helped too that after being shunted around between six, seven and eight, sometimes even in the same match at club level, Munster enabled him to become a specialist openside.

"Further on down the line you can't be a jack of all trades, you have to be a master of one," he admits now, though he'd have been too laid back to be unduly bothered by it. "Being in the right place at the right time," is for him the toughest part of being an openside. He wouldn't be the classical, nose-in-the-dirt, continuity openside, a la Kieron Dawson, though that element of his game has improved.

He does bring other tricks to the party, though. A beefed-up advertisement for professionalism, his defence has improved strikingly with his extended run in the Munster set-up, and not just with big hits, but with clever, muscular steals in contact as well.

Coupled with his dynamic ball carries, there have been some outstanding performances in Europe before his belated first Munster man-of-the-match award last weekend against Castres: the quarter-final last year at home to Stade Francais, the semi-final in Bordeaux when he did the work of two men while Mike Mullins was sin-binned, and the win away to Newport. When the going was toughest at 15-0, no-one was tougher than Wallace, galvanising Munster with a couple of retreating pickups and dynamic bursts.

"I enjoyed the conditions I think more than anything. The ground was a bit frosty and I kind of like the grounds hard rather than the muck. But whatever I'd eaten that day I felt in fine spirits."

Funny thing is, a month ago he didn't feel he was playing that well. "I wish I could put my finger on it." A quarter-final as a Munster player tomorrow, a probable Six Nations debut next week. He's never been better primed.