Wallace: Ireland as important as Munster

MUNSTER and Ireland flanker David Wallace has rejected the assertion that players from the province have failed to reach the same heights when playing for the national side.

TV pundit George Hook made the claim after Declan Kidney’s side secured top spot in Pool Five of the Heineken Cup with the win over Wasps at Thomond Park.

That form is in direct contrast to the fortunes of Eddie O’Sullivan’s team who suffered a torrid time at last autumn’s World Cup when, as per usual, the side was liberally sprinkled with members of the Red Army.

“Any time you go out representing either your province or your country, it’s as important,” said Wallace at the Irish team’s Killiney base yesterday. “I don’t think that’s true at all.

“You’re representing even more people when you put on the Ireland jersey, so I don’t feel there’s any difference.”

Munster’s progression to the European quarter-finals is a timely fillip for Irish rugby after the World Cup and the failures of Leinster and Ulster to negotiate exits from the pool stages.

In contrast, Munster’s season has just got better and better and Wallace admits that the return to the provincial set-up was a boost for the side’s Irish internationals.

“The feeling when I came back, and for a lot of the guys, is that it was a fresh start. The slate is clean, so we can go into it, the Magners League and the Heineken Cup, with clear minds and with everything to play for.

“That helped a bit, that way of thinking, plus it was great to come back into the Munster squad.”

Another man to have graced both the red and green shirts with distinction down the years is Anthony Foley, who announced his retirement earlier this week, and Wallace was quick to pay tribute to the number eight’s contribution.

“He was a guy I looked up to when I was playing Under 20s and he was on the senior team. I remember being in awe of him. But all through the years, going out playing with him has been such a calming influence.

“Even to this day, playing alongside him in the back row, it’s such a comfort. You just know he’s in control of himself and he can control the team as well. He has so much experience and such a good footballing brain on him that you know, nine times out of ten, he’s making the right decisions.”

Foley is one of a dying breed of players who have experienced, and flourished in, both the amateur and professional codes.

Yet, if history is anything to go on, Munster may not have seen the last of him once he hangs up his boots.

Both Jim Williams and Shaun Payne have slid seamlessly into staff positions in recent years and Wallace believes there is a coach in Foley straining to get out.

“When I texted him I said, ‘sorry to hear you’ve retired; and I suppose you’ll be coaching us next year’. I don’t know, it’s a personal thing and maybe he wants to take a bit of time off from it, maybe gain a bit more experience and come back to it.

“But from a players’ point of view, he’s always been like a player-manager, a player-coach, he had that much respect and that much knowledge of the game.”

Donal Lenihan is on leave.