Johnny Wattersontalks to the Ireland flanker David Wallace, whose importance to the squad has been put in sharp focus during his recent battle with injury
The hurlers on the ditch have always been of the opinion that for Eddie O'Sullivan's team to qualify for a World Cup quarter-final and gag their growing line of critics they must field all their front-line players for the final two pool games - against France and Argentina - and also avoid injury.
Of the three key players who have lately been consigned to the sidelines - Brian O'Driscoll, Shane Horgan and David Wallace - it has been the Munster flanker who has been causing most furrowed brows among the Irish team's medical staff.
Wallace might easily be the subject of a "Where is he now?" question - except that we know exactly where he has been these past few months: mostly on the physiotherapy table nursing the ankle-ligament injury that has stubbornly refused to mend and, presumably, struggling to stay cheerful and even sane.
For the player it has been a source of chronic frustration. For the team, it has probably been more serious.
The most natural openside flanker in the squad - and arguably one of the top three on the planet - has missed the warm-up phase and will go into the tournament hungry for success but rather skinny on competition.
Wallace is now back at the heart of the training sessions, but there were dark days along the road to recovery. More than once, the possibility of playing in Bordeaux and Paris seemed to be receding beyond reach.
"There were two or three (dark days)," he says. "Looking swollen and very sore you wondered if it (the ankle) was ever going to be right. Up to last Thursday I wasn't sure if it was going to be okay because I hadn't done any real rugby type work on the paddock."
The fact Wallace has had to work through other long-term injuries has given him the patience to persevere and the wisdom to trust what the medics tell him. He was out for much of the 2003 and 2004 seasons with a contrary shoulder that defied medical prompting and progressed at its own rate. But eventually it came right. So the purgatory of a professional rugby life without the rugby has been faced down before.
"Every player goes through injury," he says. "You have to learn to be patient and not get stressed out about it. That will hinder your recovery if you do.
"It's obviously not ideal being injured . . . but, yes, it can help.
"My shoulder took a long time to come right as well but eventually it did. I suppose, yes, that did help me with my ankle."
More enthusiastic than ever now to become involved, fresher too from his weeks of watching the clock tick and the ankle inflate and deflate, Wallace puts faith in the positives of injury somehow outweighing the negatives.
"We're doing a lot of match-type situations in training," he says. "That will help. It's not that you are going in (to a World Cup) totally without contact, without any match-type experience. I suppose the thing I can take out of it is maybe I'm eager, maybe I'm fresher."
While contact is not an issue with his injury, the whole tempo, the feel and instinctive movement required for an international match, is in large part a reinforcement of the things a player has perfected, mainly by repeating them in a competitive environment. The margins all over the pitch in timing, tackling, option taking, shifting balance, can multiply and add up to a poor performance or a good one. Wallace hopes his healthy body can adapt quickly. He also knows there are others who are by common consent less natural in his position eyeing the openside's jersey.
"A few of the guys have played at seven," he says, dismissing the suggestion he is the obvious choice. "Obviously for my own sake I just want to get back playing. That's the way I'm looking at it.
"It's been a few months now since I've had a game and you can't but become a little bit rusty," he adds. "But I hope one game will be enough."
The Ireland captain is hoping along similar lines. So is the Ireland right wing. And so is the coach.
