IRELAND v WALES:THE GAMES "Gatty" plays. Last year it was the Welsh players liking Ireland least of all the Six Nations teams. Then before you could say "let's go on a Lions Tour" "Gatty" was telling the Irish contingent that they were better than the Springboks.
The players didn’t seem too wounded by last season’s Six Nations doggerel and in the summer David Wallace found himself in the same hotel in South Africa with “Gatty” smiling at him across the five-star pool decking.
But the Welsh coach’s remarks prior to the Grand Slam decider seemed oddly hollow and from one player’s viewpoint, even forgettable. This week Gatland has been quiet; a change of tack, perhaps, or just timing his run? “Ah, no, that’s in the past. That’s forgotten,” says Wallace almost defensively and a little perplexed that the issue should be resurrected.
“We want to face up to the challenge of this year and forget about everything else. I’m not sure if he (Gatland) spoke to some of the players (in South Africa). I can’t remember to be honest. There was no ill-feeling. We got on with our jobs and that was that.”
Wallace and Wales go back a long way and as a player about to earn his 61st cap, he meets the Welsh for the seventh time at senior Test level.
With the Irish team, Wallace goes back to 2000 and also knows Gatland from the inside of the Ireland dressing room. He understands that when Welsh captain and openside flanker Martyn Williams reaches across a ruck on Saturday to tug the fabric of his shirt, he will do so with Gatland’s ringing endorsement as the way to go about business. But Wallace is no Jerry Flannery, who accepts and dishes out rebuke in a more visceral way. Off-field there is something more reclined, less bristling with intensity about him.
“I’ve played against him (Williams) a number of times – going back to under-21 level,” says Wallace. “And I’ve been on two tours with him.
“I’ve seen what he brings. He’s a good leader. Guys want to play for him and I suppose it’s up to us to discourage them. He’s a very good footballer. He’s very good at his job as a seven in terms of poaching ball. If you don’t have good numbers around rucks, you leave yourself open for him to pilfer. He also can play like an outhalf or a winger at times. He puts a lot of kicks through, has soft hands and has a wide range of skills. It’s hard to pick a fault in him to be honest.”
Wallace is adept at discouragement and occasionally wins man-of-the-match awards being that way, as he did against Italy earlier in this season’s campaign. For a while it appeared that he would have a younger player pushing from behind.
Once a large pool of backrow players, Ireland’s cohort there fell away with injuries to Denis Leamy and Seán O’Brien. Shane Jennings, who is now most closely breathing on his shoulder, shipped a 12-week suspension but is back in the hunt, while Kevin McLaughlin is a six or an eight but not a seven. As with Gatland’s remarks, Wallace doesn’t seem to look back as much as forward.
“You’re always looking to push yourself,” he says. “That’s the way that I look at it. Some games are harder aerobically and some games are harder physically. I relish playing in either. Wales can be very physical up front and then cut loose out wide. I think they’re definitely as physical as England.”
There was just the separation of a kick of a ball last season in the Millennium Stadium. Wallace expects nothing different in Croke Park.
“But for that last try, we could have been facing a loss in Twickenham and it would have been total doom and gloom,” he says. “So we have to keep level heads and know that in these games. Look what happened to Wales. France got two intercept tries against them and that totally changed the face of the game. You have to expect the unexpected. They like to pass the ball and have strike players who can cause you damage if the game gets loose. They did a number on us there two years ago so I don’t think it (Croke Park) is going to hold any terror for them.”
