David Wallace.

esio trot

Seeing as we already have a thread dedicated to singing the praises of one Wallace I thought it only fitting we remember his namesake David. I know there has been talk about his performances not being up to par of late but there is no disputing what a tremendous player he is. Without a doubt one of the best players this country has ever produced, not to mention the fact he is one of the worlds best opensides. His sheer effort and consistency are remarkable and I have full confidence he will be a key factor in the victory against Wales this Saturday

corny

esio trot wrote: »

Seeing as we already have a thread dedicated to singing the praises of one Wallace I thought it only fitting we remember his namesake David. I know there has been talk about his performances not being up to par of late but there is no disputing what a tremendous player he is. Without a doubt one of the best players this country has ever produced, not to mention the fact he is one of the worlds best opensides. His sheer effort and consistency are remarkable and I have full confidence he will be a key factor in the victory against Wales this Saturday

Don't know about that but definitely a fantastic ball carrier and great pro.

wixfjord

No way is Wallace one if the worlds best opensides!! He hasn't a patch on mccaw smith or brussow. Even Williams as a pure opensde is better.

bleg

His leg drive is unbelievable. Watch Earls' try, just before it's spun out to him Wallace walks at the English defence, takes on 3 of them and still makes ground.

bleg

bleg wrote: »

His leg drive is unbelievable. Watch Earls' try, just before it's spun out to him Wallace walks at the English defence, takes on 3 of them and still makes ground.

Yea he's like a forward version of Darcy. Gotta love him

Co45

esio trot wrote: »

Seeing as we already have a thread dedicated to singing the praises of one Wallace I thought it only fitting we remember his namesake David. I know there has been talk about his performances not being up to par of late but there is no disputing what a tremendous player he is. Without a doubt one of the best players this country has ever produced, not to mention the fact he is one of the worlds best opensides. His sheer effort and consistency are remarkable and I have full confidence he will be a key factor in the victory against Wales this Saturday

Wallace is one of my favourite players for Ireland but the bolded statement is simply untrue.

athtrasna

I'm a big Wallace fan but I don't think he's got too much longer in him as a first XV player for Ireland. At 33 he's still putting in amazing performances, and I wouldn't replace him just yet, not sure he'll make NZ next year as a first choice.

I was delighted to see him get MOTM against Italy. Wallace is a powerhouse (for a relatively small guy) and an absolute workhorse who still can make breaks. He's one of my favourite players to watch.

What a family though, David, Paul and Richard, all Irish legends.

Podge_irl

Wallace is an amazing player. He's not a classic openside and only works with a certain backrow dynamic, but you could say that of many 7s over the years. In some ways JOC was a classic openside but the current backrow balance is better for having Wallace there. He's no McCaw (mind you no-one is), but there are few players you'd rather getting the ball 5 metres from the opposition try line with three defenders to bash through.

He is, unfortunately, undoubtedly coming to an end though. I'm not one to decry Wallace for the sake of a "true openside" like Jennings, I think Ireland benefit greatly from him. He works well because he has players like BOD and Heaslip who are excellent on the deck and does what he does best. I can only say that I hope SOB becomes anywhere near the player that Wallace is/was.

My favourite Wallace moment was when he was on the wing in open play in a game vs Wales about 5/6 years ago. The Welsh player thought he'd have him on the outside, and made a burst for it.

Not only did Wallace make up the ground, and put him down. He stood up, and dragged the player into touch for a one-man-turnover.

Some player.

toomevara

If you genuinely love the game of rugby, you've got to love david wallace (and players like him). Abrasive, aggressive, passionate,tribal, playing at the edge of the laws...total commitment, unflashy etc...everything that's good about the game.

buck65

Has always been one of Munster's best players over the last decade. Massive power and pace. Up there with the worlds best definitely. His try count is impressive too.

thomond2006

Last season, he was gold for Munster. He was voted player of the season iirc.

The best ball-carrier in the game, definitely not the best openside though!
Brussow or McCaw has to take that award, we won't see Brussow again this year through injury which is a shame.

itsallaboutheL

athtrasna wrote: »

I Wallace is a powerhouse (for a relatively small guy)

Relative to what?... a truck

danthefan

He's a very good player but I think as an openside there are a good few players better than him. He doesn't have enough influence on the breakdown to be considered one of the worlds best 7s imo.

Co45

thomond2006 wrote: »

The best ball-carrier in the game

Lets not go over the top. He is not the best ball carrier in the game. We Irish have a habit of completely overhyping our players.
Wallace is an excellent player and one of the great Irish players but some of the statements in this thread are just wrong.

twinytwo

itsallaboutheL wrote: »

Relative to what?... a truck

lol:D

athtrasna

itsallaboutheL wrote: »

Relative to what?... a truck

I know he's 6'+ plus but the other back row players make him look small, those extra two inches Heaslip and Ferris have on him make a difference!

buck65

Have you ever seen his legs?!
A lower centre of gravity can be a blessing at times, Wallace always makes ground with ball in hand, remember the drop goal against Wales? Watch it again. Wallace brough the ball at least 5 metres infield on his own through a ruck of players. Super player, doesn't get enough praise at times no matter what is said on this thread.

PhatPiggins

athtrasna wrote: »

I know he's 6'+ plus but the other back row players make him look small, those extra two inches Heaslip and Ferris have on him make a difference!

Surely a backrow should be balanced in size and ability. His power more then compensates for any lack of size(which is less of a factor for a 7 imo)

I'm struggling to think of any world class backrow that doesn't have a range of sizes among the 3 backrow players.

anonymous_joe

He's probably my second favourite Wallace brother.

joseywhales

Deleted User wrote: »

My favourite Wallace moment was when he was on the wing in open play in a game vs Wales about 5/6 years ago. The Welsh player thought he'd have him on the outside, and made a burst for it.

Not only did Wallace make up the ground, and put him down. He stood up, and dragged the player into touch for a one-man-turnover.

Some player.

You know I don't think he ever gets enough praise. Against the bigger teams like England, France or South Africa, I have seen Ireland retain possesion through 10+ phases and make no ground whatsoever, except when Wallace is a the ball carrier. That includes our front row, O'connell and even Heaslip carrying the ball and getting absolutely nowhere. It seems in these situations, he's the only player capable of make just 3 metres by pure brute power and strength. I mean the importance of that input, they might aswell have go home if they can't make those initial 3 metres.

Not to mention his amazing speed, particularly about 5 years ago.

So my favourite moment was when Jason White of Scotland was at his peak, a week previous to the Ireland game he had terrorised England with his aggression and strength. .The sky pundits wouldn't shut up about him.

Anyway, I remember being in the stand in Landsdowne when Wallace caught a drop off(or perhaps just a **** pass) and White simultaneously smashed him square in stomach. Well I couldn't believe how Wallace had somehow defied the laws of physics because with zero momentum behind him he bounced Jason White with his abs(somehow) even though white had a direct 10 metre sprint into Wallace. I have never seen a more powerful player barring a couple of Samoans and Maoris maybe.

Nobody even mentioned or remembered this moment seemingly, it wasn't even replayed like, for weeks after that memory dominated the game for me...........it just didn't make sense!

Risteard

I wouldn't necessarily consider Wallace as one of the best opensides, that goes to McCaw or Pocock for me, but IMO, he is definitely one of the best ball carriers. As stated his strength and leg drive are phenomenal.

My father told me a funny story once. He was at the gym in UL about 8 years ago and Wallace was ahead of him. This was around the time he was injured and hadn't played an awful lot. So Wallace in all his Munster gear goes up and asks to go into the gym. The person behind the counter asks for his card. He said' Ah, I'm with the Munster team.' She looks at him skeptically, 'Can I see some identification?' Looking a bit bewildered, he starts rummaging in his pockets and pulls out something. He got in anyway. My father said he was tempted to say to him that he'd want to get back into the team quickly.

narwog81

HT in the wales game, wally having a stormer, 2 penalities won and a nice turnover to keep things moving the right direction for earls try

keep it coming....

PhatPiggins

David Wallace reads boards, fact.

Great game well done, was slightly unlucky not to get MOTM but TOL was excellent.

gcgirl

Wally had a massive game today i think at one point there were 6 lads hanging out of him

danthefan

He really was outstanding today, how he wasn't given MotM I'll never know.

athtrasna

Agreed, he played an absolute stormer today. The Welsh just couldn't keep him down. Totally dominated Martin Williams, showed him how a 7 should play!

PhatPiggins

athtrasna wrote: »

Agreed, he played an absolute stormer today. The Welsh just couldn't keep him down. Totally dominated Martin Williams, showed him how a 7 should play!

The Welsh backrow are no where near international standard. They had a great backrow in 05 and 08 but have gone to pot all together.

esio trot

What a bloody legend, he had a massive game today and that break he made early on was sublime. Regardless of what anybody else says, for me he is without a doubt one of the best opensides in the game. Sure he mightn't be a traditionalist but who cares. To have a 33 year old who still plays the game as if he were only out of the academy is wonderful and here's to seeing him make the WC in style