Wallace: I was close to Red exit

IT IS difficult to imagine now, as he does his best Ryan Giggs impression, that the ever-enduring David Wallace briefly considered leaving Munster to further his career.

Eddie Halvey, Anthony Foley, Alan Quinlan and Ultan O’Callaghan were all vying for back row positions at the time. As a young man, the thoughts of training with men he considered icons was overwhelming. He couldn’t imagine taking their places. Conversations with head coach Declan Kidney and senior squad member Killian Keane convinced him to keep the faith.

“I’m happy I faced the challenge and overcame it because if I ran from it I would have been defeating myself. I think it was a turning point in my career,” he says.

How Munster and Ireland rugby supporters are thankful he stuck it out. Much has been made of the fact that Wallace is approaching his 35thbirthday.

This, after all, is a man who made history by becoming the third Wallace brother to become a Lion, after Richard and Paul in 2001, six years before he made his World Cup debut. It has been far from straightforward but, as he proved when deciding to stick around with his native province, he has never shirked a challenge.

When we meet, he is doing some press work to publicise the Pedigree Adoption Drive (www.facebook.com/pedigreeadoptiondrive). It is a cause close to his heart, having rescued dogs in his student days and being the owner of a miniature schnauzer, while his wife is a dog-groomer. He was shocked to learn 45 dogs were abandoned and 17 put down on a daily basis. As a dog-lover, he wanted to help out. Even if it meant another round of media interviews.

Early on, I recount the memory of a piece-to-camera I did with him in Musgrave Park towards the end of 2001 for TG4’s coverage of the inaugural Celtic League, the precursor to the Magners League. Having squared it with Kidney beforehand but been warned that it was to take just five minutes before training, the interview was delayed and we only got going as the rest of the Munster squad were beginning their warm-up.

Kidney glared over and reminded me about the five minutes but Wallace was politeness personified and answered every question. When we were done, I worried that he was heading back to a rollocking.

“Ah, Deccie would understand,” he insists now, before a smile creases his face.

“He knows it’s part of the job. And it’s not my fault. And he knows if I’m asked to do media, I’ll only stay as long as I have to! I won’t be delaying it!”

It’s not that he’s distrustful of the press. Indeed, he even thinks the increasing focus on his birth cert has been beneficial to him.

“It gives you a forum to speak about it and get your point across as well,” he says. “And also, maybe there’s questions asked that you wouldn’t ask yourself normally. So you’ve to think about it and you might look at things differently or focus on certain things that you hadn’t focused on.

“I think it can be a good thing as long as you don’t get in trouble for your answers, which is something I always worry about, that somebody might take it the wrong way.”

That’s unlikely to happen with Wallace who, after all, even goes out of his way to help animals.