David Wallace: ‘Money can only go so far... a lot of other things that go into winning rugby matches’

David Wallace continues to be held in high esteem by current players, with Ireland captain Jamie Heaslip recently saying he was ‘gutted’ to break Wallace’s record as Ireland’s most-capped back-row...

Q: The recent World Cup was the first played since your retirement. How different was the emotional attachment you felt this time around?

A: Unfortunately World Cups haven’t been lucky for me — a bit like Ireland! My only real World Cup was in ’07 and that wasn’t a great one for us. I was called out for Alan Quinlan in 2003 when he was saving Irish rugby, as he says himself, by scoring that try against Argentina. Then in 2011, just a few days before we were meant to fly out to New Zealand I had a very bad injury in my knee, and that was difficult. This time around enough water had gone under the bridge. You’re definitely out of the game and you’re a fully-fledged supporter now.

Q: With the Northern Hemisphere v Southern Hemisphere divide that emerged, has the way rugby is played here become somewhat rigid and outdated?

A: Obviously the Southern Hemisphere are ahead of the Northern Hemisphere — I don’t think that has changed a lot over the years. Ireland were a bit unlucky with those six injuries or suspensions. We possibly could’ve challenged Argentina a lot more had we had the full team and may have got through. You never know, unfortunately, with these things.

Q: Since then there’s been talk of a divide in European rugby too, with the PRO12 teams losing eight out of nine Champions Cup games to English and French teams. Is the financial divide having an increased bearing on the field?

A: I think so, and that is a bit of a worry. In England a lot of the bigger teams are flouting the salary cap anyway but now they’ve brought in another extra million and they can have a marquee player for any figure outside of the salary cap. England are chasing France and the money in France is incredible. You look at teams in the second division with upwards of €20m as their budget for the year, whereas Munster would be around €3m, €4m or €5m, so it’s definitely a big divide.

Q: What can be done to bridge that gap?

A: Money can only go so far but there are a lot of other things that go into winning rugby matches and we can always look at improving our structures here in Ireland, the structure of our club game and the structure of how we bring players through. Also, there’s the players that are slipping through the net because the AIL is becoming almost like an under-23s competition for the most part — the average age is gone very low — so you’re missing a lot of guys who might have come to the game late. You look at a lot of the guys who I would have played with, the likes of John Hayes, even Brian O’Driscoll, and some of these guys could fall through the net now because they’re not in the provincial academy systems, which are a conveyor belt to the senior teams. Even myself, I made a massive jump around the 19-20 age bracket in terms of how I was playing and I may have slipped through the net. So building the competitiveness of the AIL and getting the professionals playing more regularly in that, rather than the B&I Cup, would be very good from an Irish point of view.

Q: With Ian Madigan being approached to follow JJ Hanrahan into the English Premiership, is there a danger of losing our more creative players who don’t fit a specific mould in Irish teams?

A: Sometimes we’re at a slight disadvantage having the four teams in Ireland, where you can pool all the players and have strong provinces. On the other side of that, if you’ve strength in depth, that can be counterproductive because the guys who are not in the first team the whole time will look to move abroad. Now the lure is so much more because of the money in England and France and it is going to be harder and harder for Irish teams to hold on to players. I think they’ve done a very good job because they’re coming from a culture that players haven’t tended to move away, the provinces have been successful and they want to be on winning teams and playing for their country. But if the Irish teams aren’t as competitive and successful, that can lead to unhappiness in squads because you’re not winning as much, so that’s another factor.

Q: Have Munster the strength in depth needed to get through an intense Christmas schedule of five Champions Cup games and two Irish derbies in seven weeks?

A: They’ve been working very hard, and Leinster have been as well, in terms of the amount of players they’ve used in the opening stages of the PRO12, building up a big squad and getting guys game-time, and they’re generally winning as well, which is important for morale and team unity. Young guys coming into a team and getting used to winning in a Munster jersey is very important and if you do lose a game, that hurts all the more and makes you less inclined to lose again. So it’s been great that Anthony Foley and the coaches have been able to use their squad.

Q: With Munster’s potential deal for Stephen Moore reported to have fallen through, should the IRFU allow some more leeway with quotas for non-Irish eligible players?

A: It’s an issue of where you draw the line. You look at the French and English game and the big concern is not getting their native French and English players playing in the top competitions in important positions. Hooker is one of those important positions and yeah, it’d be great for Munster to have someone like Stephen Moore come in. But then we have great strength in depth in the personnel we have at hooker in Munster and should we be bringing those guys through? Possibly. I know we’ve picked up a couple of injuries but hopefully Mike Sherry isn’t that bad and you don’t want to be corking that conveyor belt by bringing in a big name signing. It’s a tough job that they have to do and it’s not always a popular decision but sometimes, for the good of Irish rugby, they have to take those decisions.

David Wallace was speaking at the official opening of KBC’s new hub in Wilton Shopping Centre, Cork. The Wilton hub offers a relaxed, modern space to meet with personal finance specialists on KBC’s full range of competitive products and offers. For more information log onto www.kbc.ie.