IRUPA HALL OF FAME:DESPITE ONLY retiring last December, the Irish Rugby Union Players' Association (IRUPA) has wasted no time inducting John Hayes into their hall of fame.

The long-serving Munster, Ireland and Lions tighthead prop will be recognised at the players’ annual awards ceremony in the Burlington Hotel next Wednesday.

“I’m delighted to be accepting this award and joining the great players already inducted into the IRUPA Hall of Fame,” said the notoriously shy Hayes via a press release yesterday. “It’s a great honour and means a huge amount as it comes from the players I played with and against during my career.”

Hayes is indeed joining a select group, now numbering 12, who all made the crossover from the amateur to the professional game. He is the second prop to be honoured after Peter Clohessy, who famously accommodated his fellow Limerick man by shifting across to loosehead.

“IRUPA is honoured to be inducting John Hayes into its hall of fame, sitting alongside some of the greats of the game in Ireland,” said chief executive Omar Hassanein. “His impressive record speaks for itself, excelling at provincial, national and Lions level, and doing so for such a long period of time whilst playing in the most demanding of positions. John’s contribution to Irish rugby has been unquestionably huge.”

Famously converted from a flanker-cum-secondrow to prop during a stint in Invergargill, New Zealand, Hayes’s phenomenal career statistics speak for themselves – 217 Munster outings, 105 Ireland caps and two Test appearances for the Lions, having toured New Zealand in 2005 and South Africa in 2009. The rewards were a Grand Slam, four Triple Crowns and two Heineken Cups.

He tended to play the full 80 minutes of every game because, until Mike Ross, there was no ready-made replacement for the man known as “The Bull”. Hayes also became the first Irish man to hit 100 caps, against England in February 2010, and 100 Heineken Cup games in November 2011.

Since retiring from the game, he has returned full-time to farming on his family land outside Cappamore, Co Limerick.

IRUPA Hall of Fame: 2003 Mick Galway and Peter Clohessy. 2004 Keith Wood and Paddy Johns. 2005 Eric Elwood. 2006 Jeremy Davidson. 2007 Victor Costello. 2008 David Humphreys. 2009 Anthony Foley. 2010 Girvan Dempsey. 2011 Malcolm O’Kelly. 2012 John Hayes.