The sight of David Wallace stretchered off the pitch at the AVIVA Stadium in the friendly international with England on Saturday conjured up the memories of previous occasions where major sporting tournaments have been missed by players due to untimely injuries. In the case of Wallace the added applause was recognition perhaps that at thirty-five years of age the Munster and Ireland number 7 was facing an unlikely return to International scene – a landscape he dominated for the past few years. It looked at the time like a serious ligament injury with the news on Sunday confirming the same.
In the short term though it was the cancelling of his flight to New Zealand for the World Cup that was the major worry – depriving David of one last hurrah on the global rugby stage – still at the peak of his powers as an open side flanker. Not unlike the setting at Murrayfield in September 2003 – on the eve of the last Rugby World Cup down under – when a gifted fullback saw his dreams come to an end days before the flight to Australia.
At that time Geordan Murphy was also at the height of his powers and had finally worked his way into the Irish team, given he had been disadvantaged to some degree being based in the UK - only to see his dreams shattered in the final warm up game against Scotland. The Leicester player suffered a broken leg after falling awkwardly in a first-half double tackle from Andy Craig and Mike Blair and, after a lengthy delay, was carried off on a stretcher with the doctors confirming that he had suffered a compound fracture of the left tibia.
As Murphy woke up in an Edinburgh hospital with his splintered left leg pinned together by a metal plate following a late-night operation, the Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan was left trying to piece together his final World Cup squad – without one of his key players. Roll on eight years and the scenario is reversed for Murphy ahead of the 2011 World Cup where an unfortunate fate lay in wait for Felix Jones in the match against France in Dublin a week ago benefiting the Naas man this time around. For Murphy though it was not the way he would have wanted to earn his place. But such is the cruelty of sport that the sight of David Wallace grimacing in pain could only invoke those Edinburgh memories for Geordan on Saturday afternoon.
In France for the 2007 Murphy was not considered first string and earned his only start for the vital game against Argentina – where Ireland needed to win by four tries to ensure passage to the quarter-finals. Despite two tries from Murphy it was a 15-30 defeat and a disappointing end to a campaign that had expected better things for Eddie O'Sullivan's Ireland.
This time around luck has played its part for Murphy even if he travels knowing he may be third choice in New Zealand, with Rob Kearney and Keith Earls, preferred options by Declan Kidney. However these long tournaments see many things happen and as the weeks progress, there is many a twist still to come.
What remains clear is that the likes of Murphy in 2003, and now Wallace and Jones in 2011 are part of a lengthy list of rugby players who have missed major events as result of injury.
Wales International Tom Shanklin, was forced off the 2005 Lions tour to New Zealand after three matches with a knee injury, and then in 2009 damaged to his right shoulder in match against Newport-Gwent Dragons confirmed a need for reconstructive surgery – just ahead of the Lions 2009 South African tour. Shanklin joined Ireland scrum-half Tomas O’Leary, who was the first casualty only days after the squad was announced, after he broke an ankle in the first half of Munster's Magners League match in April 2009. On this occasion though O’Leary was also unfortunate to miss out, But it was more self inflicted, as his form of late has dipped.
Another to miss that Lions Tour was Alan Quinlan, even for the Munster flanker the reasons were for on the field behaviour given he was suspended for twelve weeks by a disciplinary tribunal following charges of gouging in Heineken Cup quarter-final match against Leinster - a month before the trip to South Africa. Quinlan also lost his appeal because the video evidence used originally by the match official who cited the 34-year-old, and the decision of the European Rugby Cup Ltd panel that heard his case last week, to treat his offence at the lower end of the scale. In the end the three-man panel said Quinlan had failed to demonstrate that the original decision had been in error.
Munster hooker Jerry Flannery also stayed at home that summer after he suffered a fractured elbow in training, ruling him out of the six-week trip with The Lions. On that occasion Ross Ford was the replacement.
But as Gordon D'Arcy can attest, a late call up is never out of the question, as in 2009 he went into the Lions side against the Cheetahs - having arrived from San Francisco, where he was on holiday, days before. Indeed his call-up came as cover for Riki Flutey, who had a knee problem, and allowed D’Arcy continue one of the most remarkable sporting comeback’s after the former Clongowes pupil recovered from a broken forearm that required three bone grafts. In a season in which he finished winning a Grand Slam with Ireland and the Heineken Cup with Leinster – and a second Lions call up.
In another twist of fate this week, it is Riki Flutey who Martin Johnson left of England’s final thirty for New Zealand – much to every pundits surprise.
But for David Wallace being part of such a list will obviously not figure highly in his career biography and something he will be reminded of as he watches the tournament unfold at his home over the coming weeks. More likely though, the time will be used to reflect on a fantastic career where he has been one of the most explosive back-row players in the northern hemisphere. Indeed, since making his Ireland debut against Argentina in 2000 - following in the footsteps of his brothers Richard and Paul.
In 2001 he was selected for the British & Irish Lions tour to Australia, but did not manage to make it into the reckoning for a Test match place., where his progress was subsequently hampered by a series of injuries. Having earned a recall to the Ireland squad in 2005 on the back of some impressive form for Munster and subsequently went on to start every game of the following year's Six Nations before helping his province win the Heineken Cup. Although he featured in a lacklustre 2007 Rugby World Cup David secured a second Heineken Cup with Munster in 2008.
A key figure in Ireland's Six Nations Grand Slam in 2009, Wallace was rewarded with a place in the British & Irish Lions squad for the tour of South Africa and saw off the challenge of Wales' Martyn Williams to start the first two Test match against the Springboks. He won his third Lions Test cap as a replacement in the 28-9 third Test victory in Johannesburg – matching the achievements of his two brother - albeit not part of a winning Lions test series.
Wallace continued to play a central role for Ireland and in his 200th appearance for his province, produced a man of the match performance to help Munster clinch the 2011 Magners League title after beating Leinster in the Grand Final at Thomond Park. Having then won another fitness battle to earn selection for the 2011 World Cup squad announced last week, it all came undone on Saturday following an unfortunate knee injury during the final warm-up match against England.
In 2003 when Geordan Murphy suffered his injury he was 25 years old and now travels to in 2011 to his second Rugby World Cup.
At 35 years of age David Wallace doesn’t have time on his side and now misses his second World Cup with memories from the last of much of unfinished business no doubt .
In New Zealand David Wallace, Ireland and rugby fans all over the world will miss out .
Here is to a speedy recovery Wally!
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